


The Woes (or Wonders) of Jihoonie PD-nim

by haengbokhaeya (shinybicho)



Series: jihoonie pd-nim [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, Attempt at Humor, Denial of Feelings, Emotionally Constipated Lee Jihoon, Fluff, How Do I Tag, I Tried, Idol Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Kwon Soonyoung is whipped, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Members to Appear, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, minor jeongcheol, tsundere!Jihoon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 04:03:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11959320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinybicho/pseuds/haengbokhaeya
Summary: A series of one-shots in a day in the life of Jihoonie PD-nim.





	1. jihoonie pd-nim vs the rookie idol

**Author's Note:**

> So I've had this buried deep in my pile of WIPs since last year, and I just had such a crappy week that I needed a little pick-me-up. I had hoped for just drabbles but as you can see... ||OTL
> 
> Anyway, updates will be sporadic, no schedule this time around. Sorry. Still, I hope you enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was Lee Jihoon, for crying out loud. He was known for being ruthless but entertaining in variety. Everything he held was a hit, and rookie idols would be lucky to be handled by him.
> 
> So why was he _still_ handling Kwon Soonyoung--also known as--Hoshi?

“PD-nim!” The idol whined, her stance stiff, eyebrows furrowed, and cheeks puffed out. Her face was completely red, but he ignored her. She was the type of idol that had no talent, and barely up to par good looks. The type of idol that made it to the top by flirting and sleeping around.

Too bad she was barking up the wrong tree.

He waved a hand, signaling the other producers above her to continue. They looked worried. They glanced down at the idol then back at him. The idol gasped at his dismissal. He’d have rolled his eyes and smacked her head if her manager wasn’t there (a wimp, though for her, but he’d like to think he had morals at least).

“ _PD-nim_!” She whined again, her eyes growing bigger in an attempt to look cute, and he couldn’t help it this time. He rolled his eyes and waved his hand again. He crossed his arms and cocked a brow when the younger producers hesitated. Luckily, their fear of him outweighed her supposed attractiveness.

They dumped the cold water from the buckets above her. It was a punishment for losing. The water was pretty cold as fuck, but it was summer anyway. Besides, the reason why they did this was mostly for the wet look he was forced to create, because her body was her only redeeming quality.

She screamed, high and pitchy. He winced at the shrill sound. Her arms were bent in front of her, palms wide, rigid and caging her face. Her eyes were furious, and her mouth was wide open. He swallowed a smirk.

He waved another hand, the camera men straightening from their position behind the camera. They lowered their equipment, and the manager ran to the idol, a large towel in hand.

“As ruthless as ever, aren’t you, Jihoonie PD-nim?” He narrowed his eyes, resolutely looking at the idol yelling and scratching at the manager. Whatever complaint she will (definitely) file against him, he’s got it covered so there wasn’t any reason to worry.

“PD-nim~” The voice was playful this time, and he realized that someone else was standing beside him. The heat between their bodies felt strong, but he refused to acknowledge it. (Or that he was so very close to blushing.)

“Jihoonie PD-nim,” the voice said, “it’s my turn now, right?” There was a smirk, a kind of arrogance in the tone of his voice. He grunted because they needed to wrap this up quickly.

The idol this time was male. Taller than him, which irritated him more. But this time, the guy was actually talented. He sang wonderfully, danced gracefully, and entertained everyone in variety. His looks were mostly playful, a ten-hour-ten-minute shaped eyes that strikes the heart of every fan, male or female, when serious.

“Hoshi, attempting to do the challenge for Jihoonie PD-nim!” He raised his hand like a child in announcement. He winked at him, and the corner of his eye twitched.

He was Lee Jihoon, for crying out loud. He was known for being ruthless but entertaining in variety. Everything he held was a hit, and rookie idols would be lucky to be handled by him.

So why was he _still_ handling Kwon Soonyoung--also known as--Hoshi?

Hoshi was no longer a rookie idol, having past that when he won his awards during his first year of debut. He also won the rookie awards that year. It helped a lot that his personality was kind, off and on camera.

“Jihoonie PD-nim,” Hoshi said aloud, bending down with one arm crossed over his stretched arm, pinching his nose in an elephant pose. The camera men lowered their heads to check that the cameras were turned on, full on battery, and recording. No one said a word to him in reply.

“When I win this,” he said again, legs stretched, getting ready to turn around. “Go out with me!”

Jihoon swallowed the yell crawling up his throat. A ‘no fucking way in hell, you idiot!’ heavy on his tongue. They were recording though, it wouldn’t do to mess up when they were almost done with today’s recording.

The years have been kinder to the LGBT community, and more and more of them have been accepting with those in the industry. There were still those conservatives, but mostly, it might just be Soonyoung who didn’t particularly care that this was going to be broadcasted.

(He had editing power anyway. He could always just cut it out.)

Everyone who worked with Hoshi though, knew of him. Though he insisted that he was only attracted to Jihoon. Sure, he’s found other men aesthetically appealing, but it would always only be Lee Jihoon, the ruthless PD in the entertainment industry. No one particularly understood why, and when they ask him about it, he would give off a bright smile and insist that Jihoonie PD-nim was cute.

Much to everyone’s expectations, Hoshi was able to do the game perfectly, despite accidentally turning three extra rounds.

He could very well do without the bright smile directed at him, though.

Jihoon wrapped up the filming, making sure to talk to the camera men, and re-watching the latest takes they recorded at all angles. He took his time, knowing that Hoshi was probably waiting for him.

It was a bad idea because the screeching only-has-her-looks idol stomped towards him. Jihoon closed his eyes to stop them from rolling out of his sockets. She looked pissed. Her face was red, and not from the make-up. She was dry, and in new clothes. Her manager meekly followed behind her, bowing after every step at the rest of the staff.

He dismissed the other cameramen and writers, bowing and giving them a small smile. They still had to talk about the editing of this episode, but that should wait until the idol left. (The conversation with her there would be hell.)

“PD-nim!” She dropped all pretenses, and formalities in her tone despite addressing him formally. Her yell resounded throughout the studio, but Jihoon barely even flinched. She was taller than him now, with impossible heels on. It takes a small hit to his pride, but he looked at her square at the face, regardless.

She placed her hands on her waist. Her stance was rude and condescending. “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know my agency? Why did you make me do that!” She demanded, her attitude haughty. She was looking down on Jihoon, literally and figuratively. Jihoon met these types of idols even in his earlier years as a writer, before becoming a producer. It always gave him a headache. Mostly because of the shrill voices.

“Yah, Lee Jihoon!”

Jihoon glared and opened his mouth, about to mouth off the idol when someone else intervened. “Yah, who told you to address him so informally?” The idol’s eyes widened as she turned around, stepping aside when she saw who was behind her. Jihoon raised his eyes to see him, too.

There Kwon Soonyoung was, his eyes narrowed dangerously with his Hoshi persona out of the window. Jihoon had never seen his face so furious before, and it sent warning signals to his brain. His eyes widened in surprise too, because the playful Soonyoung was nowhere to be seen.

“I _said_ ,” Soonyoung reiterated, “who told you to address him so informally?” His tone was thin, dangerous and full of warning.

The idol gulped. “H-Hoshi-sunbae-nim…” Her face tinged red in embarrassment this time. Jihoon watched but trailed away from Soonyoung’s face, not willing to see that look on his face again.

“Who trained you?” Soonyoung demanded, and Jihoon bit his bottom lip. The voice alone sounded dangerous and scary. (They always did say that it’s always the cheerful ones to watch out for.) “Which agency are you from, that you can treat the producer this way?”

The idol sputtered. Her arms were almost flailing around her sides, and her blush deepened. Her mouth opened and closed idiotically like a fish.

“How long has it been since you’ve debuted that you can demand an explanation from the nation’s number one producer?”

“Sunbae-nim!” The idol whined again, but Jihoon already knew what was going to happen next.

Soonyoung sighed, irritated. He shook his ears, motioning that her voice was noisy and shrill. The idol had the gall to look affronted.

“You’re a nobody here,” Soonyoung said when he finished shaking his ear. His brow was raised, and it dared her to argue. “In variety shows, the producers are king. No one would care which agency you’re from. If you want to stay in this industry, I’d suggest that you redo your image and start treating everyone with respect.”

Pissed, Soonyoung grabbed Jihoon’s hand and walked out of the filming room. Jihoon looked back over his shoulder. The idol was surprised. Her jaw was on the floor and her eyes bulging wide. It morphed slowly into distraught as her manager cautiously inched towards her, holding her bag and a cup of iced coffee. Jihoon turned back to Soonyoung, from the hand that was holding his wrist to the broad shoulders nearly blocking his view. They were already pretty far from the filming room but Jihoon still heard, albeit muffled, a shrill scream behind them.

Soonyoung stopped in front of the elevator with a final pull. Jihoon stumbled at the last step but he caught himself before he fell onto Soonyoung. Jihoon stared down at his shoes, not yet willing to look at Soonyoung directly in the eyes. He heard Soonyoung clear his throat, and firstly glanced at Soonyoung through his fringe. There was a faint blush across Soonyoung’s nose, a sheepish look on his face. This helped Jihoon feel a little braver to raise his head.

With a hand rubbing the back of his neck, Soonyoung’s eyes flitted around as if _he_ was avoiding looking at Jihoon. But Jihoon was a patient person. Sort of.

“You know you didn’t have to do that,” Jihoon began, and Soonyoung snapped his head at him. “Unlike idols, soloists, or other celebrities, us producers have very little to lose.”

“She disrespected you as a person, Jihoon. Not just as a producer.” The straightforward and stern answer was enough to shock Jihoon. His eyes widened, unsure how to react at Soonyoung’s seriousness. This was a side rarely seen by anyone, maybe once or twice for a second. The seriousness was blowing Jihoon off and _damn it_ , he was a producer who doesn’t let anything bother him. “I meant what I said.”

Jihoon wanted to say something. Anything. As long as it would bring happy-go-lucky and cheerful Kwon Soonyoung back. The serious Soonyoung was slightly alarming. But nothing came up. Jihoon cursed himself. Of all times to draw a blank…

Soonyoung sighed, as he pressed the button for the elevator before throwing a disarming smile and pecking Jihoon on his forehead. It was quick and easy, arguably faster than light. In that same moment, the playful Hoshi returned. Jihoon slapped a palm on his forehead where Soonyoung kissed him straight in the middle. His face burned, but he refused to acknowledge it as a blush.

“You still owe me a date, Jihoonie PD-nim,” Soonyoung said, slyly with a smirk. “I won the game after all.”

Jihoon gaped, his face turning dangerously redder by the second. He opened his mouth to yell at Soonyoung, but the elevator chimed open and Soonyoung hopped in. Before Jihoon could react properly, Soonyoung winked at him. “I’ll be waiting for that date, Jihoonie PD-nim. See ‘ya!”

As soon as the doors closed, Jihoon blinked repeatedly before shaking his head rapidly. No. Nope. Nuh-uh. No way, José. Kwon Soonyoung was still idiotic, and he was not going to let the kiss and smirk affect him. There were other things that needed his attention, and the rapid beating of his heart and the darkening blush across his cheeks were definitely not part of them. No matter what Kwon Soonyoung said.

Really.


	2. jihoonie pd-nim vs the radio shoutout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon’s eye twitched. Jeonghan smirked from his other side, hands on his hips. “You’re really going to ban Soonyoung’s name in the studio? _Just_ because he called you his--what was it?”

Lee Jihoon PD-nim would never blush. No matter what the rest of his staff and crew say, the pinkness of his cheeks were from the heat of the lights or the stuffiness of his room.

He had been yelling since he arrived, the rest of his crew watched him with cautious eyes when he entered. There was a radio playing. It was Hoshi’s debut song, _Hurricane_. A vein in his temple popped.

“...and shut that _fucking thing_ off!” Jihoon snapped. One of his crew jumped in surprise and nearly looked on the verge of crying. If she wanted to become a producer, she needed to get tougher. And there was no one more ruthless in the variety world than Lee Jihoon PD-nim.

Who was denounced by Hoshi through a radio show by calling him a cutie patootie.

A _tsk_ hissed at his ears. “Now you scared the poor girl,” someone said beside Jihoon, and Jihoon didn’t bother to turn around. “Do you know how hard it is to get a hardworking PA nowadays?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Stop being lazy. The dessert table is five steps away from where you’re sitting, Jeonghan writer-nim.”

Yoon Jeonghan was a fun producer. He always had schemes no other producers ever thought of in variety. Though sometimes, when he’s accidentally caught on camera, viewers seem to get distracted by the celebrities they were supposed to show. That, and he was almost sinfully _lazy_.

He shrugged. “Hey, I get paid to come up with fun games, punishments, and witty lines. They get paid to be my gopher.”

“That’s gonna bite you in the ass someday, hyung.”

“I wouldn’t mind Cheol to do it.” Jihoon whipped around, eyes wide in hopes of seeing Jeonghan at least not meaning to say it out loud. Alas, Jeonghan had no look or regret or remorse even raised a brow at Jihoon with a hand on his hip.

Jihoon furrowed his brows in confusion. “How does Jisoo-hyung even put up with you?”

“Oh please,” Jeonghan said, waving his hand in the air, “Soo-ah loves me.”

“Biggest mystery in the entertainment industry.”

They turned to walk closer to the backdrop where the camera men were setting up. Choi Seungcheol was their main “cinematographer”. He made sure that all the camera men were doing their jobs and pointed at the right person during the right time. Jihoon knew he could trust Seungcheol to know when to move the cameras or when to change the camera angles since they’ve worked years before Jihoon became well-renowned.

Choi Seungcheol was also the apple of Yoon Jeonghan’s eye. Or he’s the peach, at least.

“I guess you heard what Soonyoung said,” Seungcheol said as soon as Jihoon and Jeonghan stopped beside him without looking at them. He crossed his arms and there was a smirk on his face, but his eyes never strayed from all the other crew the worked to fix their cameras. Jihoon resisted the urge to punch someone.

“Bold move, wasn’t it?” Jeonghan said, the tone of his voice amused and teasing. Jihoon wished he had gotten a huge black coffee before he entered the room. Or soju.

Seungcheol laughed, loud and clear and if Jihoon weren’t so irritated, he’d bet that Jeonghan was seeing sparkles and flowers floating behind him. But Jihoon was, and the reason for his irritation was miles away and there was no other way for him to lash out. He was _at work_ , and work was what he needed to focus on.

He said as much to Seungcheol and Jeonghan. “ _That_ name is banned from this studio,” Jihoon hissed under his breath as the rest of the crew and staff prepared for their recording session for the day.

“What,” Seungcheol said, because he apparently had a death wish, “Soonyoung?”

Jihoon’s eye twitched. Jeonghan smirked from his other side, hands on his hips. “You’re really going to ban Soonyoung’s name in the studio? _Just_ because he called you his--what was it?”

“His  _c_ _utie patootie Jihoonie PD-nim_.” Seungcheol finished. The two of them snickered before full out laughing from their belly. The rest of the crew ignored them, the banter an everyday thing an hour or two before the recording. Jihoon was unfortunately the butt of it all for the day. It was usually a younger writer who seemed to be absent.

“Are you both _done_ ,” Jihoon asked, though his tone heavily suggested that they should be, “we have a show to record.”

Seungcheol rolled his eyes and pointed a thumb at the rest of his staff. “Been done five minutes ago. Your reaction’s just too _cutie patootie_ , _Jihoonie_ PD-nim~”

Seungcheol yelped as Jihoon kicked him in the shin. He hopped, holding his leg up. Jihoon glared at him darkly, no remorse for inducing pain at their main camera man. Jeonghan bit his lower lip to suppress a laughter bubbling up his throat. Seungcheol set himself up for all this pain despite knowing Jihoon for years. It was _adorable_.

Jihoon turned to walk to the middle of the studio to address the rest of the crew. The celebrities were going to arrive in a few minutes and there were a few ground rules he wanted to say before they began. They all gathered in a circle, leaving Jihoon in the middle. It was a routine he had established when he became the main producer for the show. It always set expectations for the staff and crew, and it helped calm down a few nerves.

This time though, there were some things he needed to address and the biggest one was definitely, “ _No one_ is to mention what was said in the radio. _No one_ is to mention _his_ name. We do this for the entire day and you’re all good. Got it?”

“Jihoonie PD-nim,” Jeonghan called from the middle of the crowd and Jihoon was seriously regretting not getting a tub of black coffee, “whose name aren’t we supposed to say?”

The most regrettable thing he has ever done in his life was probably hiring Jeonghan to be his writer for the show. Jihoon glared darkly, straight at Jeonghan who was behind a few new interns. They cowered and flinched when they saw Jihoon’s eyes narrowed at them. They stepped aside to show where Jeonghan was. Jeonghan was wearing a bright, mischievous, sinister smile and Jihoon was starting to hate his life.

“As long as you don’t mention any name other than the celebrities that will be here, you’re good,” Jihoon confirmed. Jeonghan’s face turned slightly disappointed but there was a promise that he was going to make Jihoon say The Name by the end of the day because Jeonghan was sadistic like that.

Seungcheol clapped his hands, and the tension between them broke. The staff and the crew blinked before they began talking to one another in last minute preparations for the filming. They dispersed, leaving Jeonghan, Jihoon, and Seungcheol in the middle.

“Thanks for bringing me here, Soonyoung-hyung!” The door opened with a loud thud. Everyone went silent and they turned to the door. It was the younger writer with a phone in his ear more yelling than talking to the person at the other end of the line. He was _late_. “Yeah, I’ll tell him right now! Thanks again, Soonyoung-hyung!”

“Kim Mingyu,” Jeonghan slow-clapped and shook his head in amazement as Mingyu, their younger writer, came to a slow stop behind Jihoon. Seungcheol covered his entire mouth as Jihoon fumed.

Mingyu ended the call and lowered the phone. His eyes were wide and blinking with confusion. He casted his eyes down to see the top of Jihoon’s head. He blinked a couple of more times, not able to read the situation. Jeonghan stopped clapping and everyone else in the studio kept silent. The atmosphere was tense mostly because Mingyu didn’t seem to see the thunder and lightning above Jihoon’s head and the vein that was about to pop.

“Oh yeah,” Mingyu said, tapping Jihoon on the shoulder. Jihoon turned, his face dark and his eyes narrowed in the deepest glare Seungcheol has ever seen him do, “Soonyoung-hyung asked me to tell you because he wasn’t sure if you heard his radio shout out earlier that you’re his cutie patootie Jihoonie PD-nim by the way!”

The impact of Jihoon’s kick was arguably louder than Mingyu’s yelp and whimper.

“And _that’s_ what fucking happens if _any fucking one_ of you disobeys my _fucking_ rules!” Jihoon stormed out of the studio, grumbling about why the celebrities were _fucking_ late.

Seungcheol kneeled down to Mingyu’s height as he clapped Mingyu’s shoulder with poor sympathy and a supportive smile. Jeonghan swallowed another bout of laughter before he turned around to address the rest of the staff and crew with a loud clap of his hands. “Nothing else to see, everyone! Get back to work before Jihoonie PD-nim returns with our guests for today.”

Mingyu crumpled on the ground with a small whimper, the pain almost unbelievable. Seungcheol thanked an intern who ran to get a bag of ice and he gave it to Mingyu. He muttered under his breath in a near-exhausted tone. “And _this_ is why we tell you to arrive earlier, Mingyu-ah.”

“But that was _so_ great,” Jeonghan said as he placed his hands on his hips with poorly concealed amusement. “I think I’ll use it in today’s segment.”

“Jeonghan-ah,” Seungcheol said warningly as Mingyu properly sat on the ground, holding the ice bag.

“Don’t look at me like that, we’re in variety,” Jeonghan shrugged as he pet the top of Mingyu’s head to walk to the dessert table, “you set yourself up for these things to keep it entertaining and what Mingyu did could just be comedy gold. Now hurry and fix yourselves before cutie patootie Jihoonie PD-nim returns, alright?”

With a flirtatious wink, Jeonghan sauntered off, leaving Seungcheol and Mingyu to only sigh deeply.


	3. jihoonie pd-nim vs the executives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What’s wrong?” Jihoon whipped around, eyes growing in surprise. There Soonyoung was, popping up right behind him in the most inopportune times as always, but with a deep frown as if he was trying to figure out a complex puzzle--no. No, it looked more like a mixture of worry and anger.

It was a miracle that Jihoon hadn’t busted a kidney yet. Or an artery. Or his _heart_ for that matter. He knew the things he had to overcome before he took the job. The type of people he had to meet to get to the top of the industry. He mentally prepared himself for gold diggers, for snakes, for demons. He had a list of arguments for each order of action he’d heard for the past years. He was experienced enough to feel confident in front of executive members, confident enough in himself that he knew when to stand his ground and when it was okay to just smile and nod.

But there were just some days when the last straw broke. The thin line was crossed. The delicate string was cut. Today was one of those days and _man_ , did Jihoon hate these days.

Meetings with the executive producers were his least favorite meetings. They were his least favorite people right after entitled celebrities, elitist fans, and ssaesangs. He always came extra prepared for whatever they were going to order him to do. Always a backup plan or a back up argument.

Despite all that, he always left the meeting room with extra stress, a pounding headache, and a harder-to-ignore need to punch someone. He walked slowly back to the recording studio where his cast and crew were waiting for him to prepare for the next recording session. He was called out for a last-minute addition to the list of guests they were going to have who, no real offense to the guest, would disrupt their entire episode.

They always prepare for their filming episode at least two weeks in advance so that they could fix the flow, and to make or buy their props. It takes endless hours of gruelling days and sleepless nights to prepare for a two-hour episode and for the executives to suddenly spring up a random celebrity guest just boiled Jihoon’s blood. It meant that they had to adjust. They would have to make extra last minute props, and see if they could fit another game or a punishment or _something_ to cater to the extra guest. While two hours seemed long for an episode, it was a blink of an eye when they had hours upon hours of footage to choose from.

The slow walk to the too-near recording studio helped calm Jihoon down somewhat. It wasn’t entirely effective because he was racking up ideas to come up with activities that were funny enough, witty enough, and inclusive enough. It was stressful. The anxiety crept up his spine, a dark and deep voice hissed at the back of his mind.

He curled his fists because he was getting closer and closer to the recording studio without a way to break it to his crew (Seungcheol would need another cameraman to focus on the new guest), to his writers (Jeonghan never really thought in the present, so the last minute addition was going to irk him), to the rest of his PD team (Mingyu, as airheaded and clumsy as he could be, never failed to get things straight when it came to props, cue cards, and microphones to name a few).

“Oh,” a bright voice popped behind him after the elevator tinged, “Jihoonie PD-nim!” It was a voice that Jihoon very much knew, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to face.

“What’s wrong?” Jihoon whipped around, eyes wide in surprise. There Soonyoung was, popping up right behind him in the most opportune times as always, but with a deep frown as if he was trying to figure out a complex puzzle--no. No, it looked more like a mixture of worry and anger.

Jihoon sighed, the tension in his shoulders loosening just a bit. The wrinkles in Soonyoung’s forehead deepened. He saw a hand inched slowly toward him, careful and light as if he were a wild animal. When he looked at Soonyoung, he raised a brow as Soonyoung flinched and took his hand back mid-reach. He looked back down and shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look like it.” It was a quick answer that caught Jihoon off-guard. With blinking eyes, Jihoon narrowed his eyes at Soonyoung, his face questioning the statement. The hand Soonyoung retracted made its way to the back of his neck, embarrassed. Light pink spots bloomed on his full cheeks, and his eyes avoided looking back to Jihoon’s. The situation was familiar that oddly enough, calmed Jihoon somewhat.

“I mean,” Soonyoung ran a hand through his hair, messing it up, “you don’t look okay.”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “Just a normal day at work, Hoshi-sshi.”

“It’s more than that,” Soonyoung continued, determined. Jihoon rolled his eyes and he forced a scream bubbling up his throat back down. They were pretty close to the recording studio that they would be heard by the crew, and Jihoon didn’t want them to know this way. He had a plan, _damn it_.

“It’s _just_ a normal day at work,” Jihoon insisted before he turned around to continue on to the recording studio. A hand took his shoulder and turned him back around. It wasn’t rough, but it was definitely enough to surprise Jihoon. Once he turned, he found Soonyoung staring directly at him. His eyes were narrowed and serious. Any mischief was gone. It was replaced by genuine worry and frustration.

 _At what_?

“It’s okay to lean on someone sometimes, PD-nim.” Soonyoung said calmer and firmer than Jihoon had ever heard him. It wasn’t angry. It was frustrated, subdued. Like he was in on a secret he wanted to tell Jihoon but couldn’t.

Jihoon was confused. “Why are you so angry?”

“You act as if you’re carrying the whole world on your shoulders,” Soonyoung told him, “and you look like you’re about to cry.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened even as he blinked repeatedly. It was a weird insinuation. If he wasn’t so confused, he would have felt insulted. He had endured through worse, some right after the other. This wasn’t particularly new, though the anger towards the stupid executives never waned. After a while, Jihoon narrowed his eyes.

“I can fight my own battles, Hoshi-sshi.”

“But you don’t _have to_ ,” Soonyoung said, almost screaming as he scratched the back of his head in obvious frustration as if Jihoon just wasn’t seeing what was in front of him. “You’re not the only producer in your staff, PD-nim. Does Jeonghan-hyung know what goes on in the meeting before you tell them the news? Does Seungcheol-hyung?”

Jihoon wanted to take a step back when Soonyoung stepped forward, but he stood his ground. His eyes were still narrowed, wary at Soonyoung’s every move and every word that came out of his mouth. Soonyoung stopped close to him. Close enough that with one more step, Jihoon was sure he could bump his nose against Soonyoung’s chest. He kept his eyes on Soonyoung’s face, ignoring the heat that Soonyoung’s body gave off at their proximity.

“You have people you can lean on, PD-nim,” Soonyoung said, the frustration melting away into someone Jihoon wasn’t sure he was ready to recognize. It was a sad smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. “You have been in this industry for _years_. There are people you work with who trust you completely. This isn’t a burden you should carry alone. Maybe this time, you can learn to trust them.”

Then it dawned on Jihoon. Soonyoung somehow knew from a glance what Jihoon was worried about. The worry about talking to his staff about things the executives would force on them. The limitations set despite the amount of work, of pay, of handling celebrities that didn’t seem fair but they had to do it anyway if they wanted to keep their jobs. The stress that kept piling up each day when executives gave more and more “suggestions” to their variety show. The anxiety deep inside him that would remind him that this was not a permanent position, a permanent show. Their variety show was entertaining enough to get the amount of viewers they needed to hold on weekly during their time slot, but for _how long_?

“Don’t worry, Jihoonie PD-nim,” Soonyoung said, hands on his shoulders. It should have added weight to his already tense shoulders but funnily enough, it was as light as a feather. “I’ll take care of it. You don’t need to talk to your staff just yet. Wait for me for a while. Trust me.”

He opened his mouth but Soonyoung cupped his cheek and Soonyoung’s thumb softly caressed his face. He snapped his mouth shut at the hold with widened eyes again. It was warm and rough. Jihoon’s heart was beating wildly, his red cheeks hidden under Soonyoung’s calloused palms. He feared that Soonyoung heard how loudly his heart was beating.

“ _Trust_ me, Ji.” Soonyoung said as he carefully hit his forehead onto Jihoon’s. Their faces were close enough that Jihoon felt his breath and the tip of Soonyoung’s nose touching his own. “Don’t go anywhere, alright? Give me five minutes, I’ll be back before you know it!”

With a blinding smile and a playful wink, Soonyoung ran his hand through Jihoon’s hair, messing it up completely. Jihoon’s breath caught in his throat as Soonyoung gave him one last loving stare. His smile was softer, more lovely than Jihoon has ever seen before. Soonyoung nodded at him once before he turned and briskly walked away, towards the elevator to the the broadcasting CEO’s floor where Jihoon was less than an hour prior.

Jihoon held his chest, forcing his heart to stop beating wildly. Fuck. Fuck fuck _fuck. Fuck fucking fuckity fuck._ It was a fucking _miracle_ that Jihoon’s heart hadn’t burst.


	4. jihoonie pd-nim vs the dance solo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I can’t believe this. This is so idiotic. Why did we even _have_ to be here? It’s not like we couldn’t visit the agency building after the meeting.” Jihoon mumbled under his breath. His eye twitched at every boom of the bass now that he was outside the meeting room. “It’s like some idiotic executive wanted to force this meeting… here.”

“Okay,” Jihoon said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose to chase the headache away. “Okay, so what else are we missing?”

A loud beat of music echoed in a muffled way throughout the room that made it almost impossible to concentrate. The rest of his skeleton staff looked at him warily. Irritation was starting to be evident in Jihoon’s face at each _boom_ of the bass line no matter how muffled it was. There was a vein at his temple just waiting to pop out.

“Is it really _necessary_ to have the meeting _here_?” Jihoon asked as he began to caress his temple. “Why couldn’t we have the meeting at our broadcasting studio? Like always?”

“Request from above.” Seungcheol answered, not looking up from his stack of papers. It was a rough storyboard sketch of the upcoming episode.

“Request my ass,” Jeonghan said in reply, “it was more like a decree.”

Seungcheol finally raised his head, but only to glare at Jeonghan warningly. Mingyu sat after Jeonghan, quiet with a pen on one hand and a notepad in the other, trying to take note of the minutes of the meeting. Something Jihoon was sure he needed to go over before he hands over a report.

“We’re here to familiarize ourselves,” Seungcheol clarified as he returned to scribbling on his storyboard sketches. There was a crease on his forehead from frowning in concentration. He bit the top of his pencil as he tried to decide how the camera angle was going to look.

“Someone _please_ really tell me _why_ we couldn’t have done this at our broadcasting studio instead?” Jihoon said and the incoming headache was starting to pound, ironically at the same time as the cause of it: the beat of the muffled music a few rooms down.

Jeonghan turned to Seungcheol while he popped another potato chip into his mouth. Jihoon glared at them both, cursing them at their poor attempt to hide the love-hate flirting thing. It was Seungcheol who looked away first. What was surprising though was that Jeonghan didn’t look triumphant and gloating as he would usually be when he and Seungcheol had a “disagreement”. It seemed as if they really were having a quarrel. Something Jihoon would appreciate not being part of, he hoped.

“We need to get used to the agency environment, PD-nim,” Seungcheol clarified and Seungcheol using titles and honorifics was a bad sign. A warning signal that Seungcheol was not playing. Jihoon didn’t know what was happening (yet, probably because Jeonghan was surely going to talk his ears off while Seungcheol was going to passive-aggressively say a retort), he just wanted to get this meeting done. “Hoshi needs to be in his most natural element for this.”

Right, that was why Jihoon felt so antsy. They were in Hoshi’s agency’s building as an immersion of sorts. It was a special they were asked to do for their variety show and canvassing and scouting were required for these things. _That’s_ why they were having the meeting there.

But what didn’t make sense was why were they meeting in a room that was so close to the dance practice studio that the music just echoed through the walls.

The headache wasn’t going to leave any time soon.

“Okay, fine,” Jihoon said, defeated, “what else do we need to do to finish this meeting-- that music is getting louder by the fucking _second_ , I don’t know how much more I can handle, Cheol--”

“We’re waiting for _you_ , Jihoon.” Seungcheol said with an inquiring brow. He pushed the stack of paper of his storyboard. Jihoon glanced at it and saw the many lines and corrections, scribbles at each edge of the box that explained what was happening and why it was angled that way. It was a very informative storyboard sketch, but of course it was; it was Seungcheol’s work.

Another stack of paper was thrown and it slid in front of him. Jeonghan leaned back onto his chair, as he cradled the bag of potato chips. He looked bored and extremely done with the meeting as much as Jihoon felt. Mingyu, on the other hand, was scribbing furiously onto a notepad while stealing a quick glance at everyone in the room.

The beat outside was getting louder as it progressed, distracting him from saying any additional comments.

“Let’s stop for today. I won’t get anything done here. I’ll give you my comments tomorrow.” Without waiting for answers, Jihoon grabbed the stack of papers and left the room. As expected, once he opened the door of the conference room, the blasting music roared despite the closed dance studio. He clicked his tongue and walked. Though he looked a lot more like a bull charging, face red and crumpled into a deep frown.

“I can’t believe this. This is so idiotic. Why did we even _have_ to be here? It’s not like we couldn’t visit the agency building after the meeting.” Jihoon mumbled under his breath. His eye twitched at every boom of the bass now that he was outside the meeting room. “It’s like some idiotic executive wanted to force this meeting… here.”

Jihoon halted, his eyes growing. The door to the dance studio was slightly ajar, maybe that was why it was heard all the way inside the meeting room. A blurred figure past through the small gap. Frowning in confusion and curiosity, Jihoon silently stepped closer, tilting his head to look through the open door.

Soonyoung stretched his arm and twirled. He put one foot down, his sneaker squeaking on the floor. His lips moved quietly as his song played in the background, mouthing the lyrics with each movement. He stretched his other arm and he turned the other way. His body leaned to the side, as the arm that wasn’t stretched followed until he looked like he was reaching for something. The hand caressed his stretched arm. When it reached his neck, he tilted his chin high up sensually and his hand caressed his neck down then he moved his head to the side, facing down as his hand snapped out again.

His movements were fluid. It was a different choreography than what he showed on television or stage performances. This was intimate, sensual… personal.

Jihoon felt a blush rising to his cheeks. He felt like he was peeping on something. Watching something he wasn’t supposed to be watching. When he heard a loud thud, he took a step back. He miscalculated his step in his surprise and he fell on his butt. One stack of paper flung above him, hitting him square on the top of his head and temples, finally landing on the floor with a loud slap. The other scattered, the paperclip landing between Jihoon’s legs as if mocking him. _God damn it, Jeonghan!_

The music continued to play as Jihoon moved quickly, grabbing all the scattered papers on the ground. He was too busy to notice that the music stopped and the door creaked fully open.

“Ji--?”

Jihoon’s head snapped up. A blush crawled to his cheeks, his pale skin coloring into a light, bright pink. He bit his lower lip and reached for the papers all at once, not minding if he crumpled them. He felt as if he was caught watching something he shouldn’t have and that darkened his blush all the more. The rush of blood to his head made him feel lightheaded and delirious. Embarrassment filled him. The script that Jeonghan slid in front of him felt like the ghost of Jeonghan, haunting and taunting him by letting Soonyoung find him.

A hand reached at the corner of his eyes. Jihoon flinched away, falling back onto his butt. Soonyoung stared at him questioningly, a brow raised and eyes searching. He held a piece of paper. Jihoon blinked almost wildly. His eyes darted from the paper Soonyoung held and the few more papers on the ground. The shame and embarrassment from his voyeurism consumed him.

The brows dipped low on Soonyoung’s forehead and he looked worried. Something Jihoon was starting to become accustomed to. (He didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing.)

“I--” Jihoon stuttered, moving back up to his knees to reach for the last few papers on the floor, “sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Ji--”

“I was about to leave, you know, rushing home. Gotta get these papers done for the next episode.”

“Jihoon--”

“I mean sorry, I didn’t think it was you and I guess all things considered _of course_ it was you, you--”

“ _Jihoonie PD-nim!_ ”

Jihoon jumped, the papers he gathered at all angles. It was all out of order; a complete metaphor for how he felt at the moment under Soonyoung’s intense stare. He was disoriented, flustered and unsure, in front of Soonyoung.

But Soonyoung was all smiles and loving stares. He smiled as if he was looking at something precious. As if it was something only _he_ could see. It sent warning signals to Jihoon’s brain. His heartbeat was fast and loud and it was starting to get harder to breathe.

“It’s okay. I was just about finished with my routine anyway. Did you want to see?” Soonyoung asked, and the question was arguably innocent. Free of any maliciousness and hidden agendas. Rationally, Jihoon knew Soonyoung didn’t mean anything about it. There was _no way_ Soonyoung knew he was standing there and watching a choreography that would most probably be banned in all music shows. Soonyoung's smile was getting wider and wider by the second. _No way_ \--

“No thanks!” Jihoon stood, cradling the stack of papers messily with both his arms. “I’m gonna go. People to do, stuff to see-- _shit!_ \-- _stuff_ to do and _people_ to see! Bye!”

With a redder face than probably red wine, Jihoon turned and briskly walked farther away from Soonyoung. But Soonyoung called him. “PD-nim!”

“ _Bye!_ ” Jihoon forcefully said without turning back.

“The elevator’s the other way.” Jihoon skidded into a halt, turned on his heel, studiously kept his head down, and walked back. Once he was near where Soonyoung stood, he bowed a deep, almost ninety degrees bow from the waist without once looking up at Soonyoung.

An amused chuckle reached his ears. It wasn’t taunting or teasing. It was genuinely amused laughter. As if the happiness that radiated just couldn’t be contained. Jihoon closed his eyes shut for a quick second. If the earth wasn’t going to swallow him whole, then he’ll just drown himself in paperwork. Or drink a bottle of soju. Or ten. His headache didn't matter. Anything to forget Soonyoung and his stupidly flexible body.

 _Anything_.


	5. jihoonie pd-nim vs the yoon jeonghan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Jihoon-ah!” Jeonghan yelled from the distance, waving high despite being only a few feet away. Seungcheol was frantically trying to stop him but Jeonghan was a force to be reckoned with and it was like stepping into a snowstorm. “Say goodbye to Hoshi-goon and his muscles for today. We’ve got a dry recording to run!”

If there was any past decision he regretted making, it was most definitely the day he decided to hire Yoon Jeonghan PD-nim.

He blamed Choi Seungcheol. Entirely.

 _You need an assistant or at least someone to help you write_ , he said. _I can recommend someone who’s good._

In Seungcheol’s defense, Jeonghan _was_ a good writer for the variety show. He had the perfect comedic timing, and the most powerful burn and drag lines. He knew the right amount of punishment to keep it entertaining while only touching the line of slapstick. His lines had wit and logic, and of course there were jokes and scenes where it was so awkward, you couldn’t help _but_ laugh so it worked anyway.

Yoon Jeonghan was also full of innuendoes.

While Jihoon was thankful that it was mostly directed at Seungcheol, it did tend to get too much. (Not that Seungcheol minded, he was all for it.) When it _was_ directed at Jihoon, it was more because of _someone else_.

“Did you see Hoshi-goon’s biceps? Did you? What about his triceps?” Jeonghan asked as Jihoon walked quickly, almost breaking into a sprint. They walked past another recording studio, a different variety show. One way or another, it had Hoshi remove his blazer to show his too-small-for-his-size dress shirt that had short sleeves. His chest seemed like it bulged from the tightness, the buttons stretching with each movement. He was _fucking ripped_ and Jihoon was distracted.

Now, Jihoon was quickening his pace but Jeonghan was not deterred. “You must’ve seen his _thighs_ at least, Jihoonie PD-nim.” Of all the days Yoon Jeonghan felt energetic enough to walk briskly against Jihoon’s pace, it had to be when they passed Hoshi doing a mission.

Jihoon’s face was bright red. It was so red that it couldn’t be called pink (or a light blush) any longer. Jeonghan continued the onslaught of questions, not running out of breath even though Jihoon was sprinting down the halls. Kwon Soonyoung in tight leather pants and a too-small-for-his-chest button down was something he did _not need_ right now.

When they arrived at the studio, Jihoon opened the door with a bang. He was heaving, brows dipped down low and his lips turned to a frown. Jeonghan jogged behind him with a smile, not even breaking a sweat. Seungcheol and Mingyu turned to them with questioning brows. Jihoon glared at no one in particular, stomping his way through the studio. The rest of the staff stepped out of his way, the younger and newer ones on the brink of tears.

Jeonghan took his place beside Seungcheol, as the three of them watched Jihoon walk to the corner table with the food, the props, and the scripts. Seungcheol turned to Jeonghan with a roll of his eyes. Jeonghan looked too triumphant for it to be nothing to Jihoon. Knowing Jeonghan, he teased Jihoon again.

“What did you even say?” Seungcheol asked under his breath. Jeonghan shrugged but the smirk was still there. Seungcheol sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’s gonna take it out on us again.”

It was another dry rehearsal. A final check of how each angle looked and how each mic sounded. Jihoon flipped his notes, frustrated that he couldn’t seem to concentrate. There was definitely something he needed to take note but Jeonghan’s voice was haunting him. Their guest celebrities were due in an hour, two after styling. The lights looked okay, even through the cameras. The script seemed fine, complete with the cues. Everything was just perfect.

The problem was the image of Hoshi in his _too fucking fit_ clothes.

He knew Jeonghan was cackling. He lived for Jihoon’s suffering (he lived for everyone’s suffering but his own, the sadist). Especially since Hoshi was close by, Jihoon was an easy teasing target. Not that he’d let Jeonghan see how it affected him. He was still the head producer after all. No matter how fucking _good_ Hoshi looked. He’s been able to hide it before. He could definitely continue hiding it now.

“Are we ready?” Jihoon called out, not looking up from his script as he turned around. Once he made his turn, he bumped his head onto something firm. He winced, soothing his forehead and nose. He opened his mouth to scold the person who suddenly appeared, ready to threaten Mingyu with a guitar for being too fucking tall but paused when he saw the person.

“Yo, Jihoonie PD-nim!” It was Kwon _fucking_ Soonyoung in his too tight, all black clothing glory. The blazer became a jacket and the button down became a plain black shirt (that was _still_ too fucking tight). His pants were the same leather pants, slightly ripped on the knees showing just how ripped _he_ was. Jihoon’s brain short circuited, a bad sign for a producer whose show was going to record in a few hours.

Jeonghan was cackling louder at the back, leaning against Seungcheol with an arm around his shoulders. Mingyu was watching them with worried eyes and everyone else took a step back warily. Jihoon’s face was bright pink, the color reaching his ears. Soonyoung didn’t seem to notice the change of atmosphere as he smiled widely at Jihoon.

Quickly looking away, Jihoon ducked and walked past him.

Soonyoung watched, confused at the dismissal. It wasn’t particularly different than usual. Though there was something off about Jihoon’s way of ignoring him. “Did I say something wrong? What did I do?”

Jeonghan was cackling at that point, sharp and loud echoing within the recording studio. Seungcheol stood beside him, still with his hands across his chest because Jeonghan was leaning on him for support. Mingyu couldn’t look at him directly, opting to busy himself a few steps behind Jihoon in case he needed help. But he didn’t stay too close to avoid receiving the end of Jihoon’s pissing contest.

“God, that was _great_!” Jeonghan said, straightening his stand and wiping the tears from his eyes. His face was flushed and his voice was strained from all the laughing. His chest was heaving up and down. He coughed and wheezed but he had never seem so ecstatic.

Jihoon glared down at the script. The words were jumbled. He understood them by itself but the sentences and instructions were blurred. It was like his brain was a broken and jammed factory machine. It wanted to process the words, but something was blocking it. That something--and Jeonghan might die from laughter if he found out--was ultimately Kwon Soonyoung and his outfit.

“PD-nim,” Soonyoung said again from right behind him. Jihoon flinched, carefully turning around, “you’re not falling sick, are you?” Soonyoung leaned closer, crowding Jihoon. Comically, his face looked like a scared cat. Sooonyoung’s shadow covering him almost entirely.

Jihoon opened his eyes he never knew he shut when he felt a forehead touch his. There was a soft, warm breath hitting his face and it smelled minty. His body stiffened. His lungs seized but his heart was wildly beating. He felt lightheaded and it was dangerous.

“I’m fine!” Jihoon said, pulling away. He forced the distance between them as he turned around. He clutched his chest and took a deep breath. His body was bent forward as if he was trying to curl into himself. He wanted to hide-- but no. No, he’s been through tougher situations than this.

“Jihoonie PD-nim’s just feeling a bit overwhelmed today, Hoshi-goon,” Jeonghan said, closer than Jihoon originally thought. He turned around slowly, eyes casted down so as to not directly look Soonyoung in the face. Jeonghan was beside Soonyoung now, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. Jeonghan’s face was smug and Jihoon wanted to punch him. There was no reason for Jeonghan to look that smug.

Seungcheol appeared behind them, eyes closed and lips turned to a frown. As if he knew exactly the inconvenience Jeonghan was causing, like a parent scolding their child. He took the back of Jeonghan’s collar and pulled.

“Wh-- yah, Choi Seungcheol!” Jeonghan yelled, surprised at the sudden manhandling. “If you wanted some alone time, you could’ve just slapped my ass like a man. I mean, I wouldn’t have said no.”

“Yah, what are you talking about?!” Seungcheol’s ears were bright pink, but he still pulled Jeonghan away.

Jihoon and Soonyoung watched them walk to the middle of the room where the stage was ready for the guests to perform in for the recording. Then Soonyoung turned back to face Jihoon, and Jihoon was suddenly hyper aware of the sharp eyes on him. He clutched onto his script, eyes staring directly at Jeonghan and Seungcheol bickering at the distance.

“Hyung,” Jihoon jumped, hearing a voice so close to him. He turned to his side to see Mingyu, unsure of what to do, “are we gonna do a dry run?”

“Uh, yeah,” he stuttered, brows furrowing in confusion, “yeah, let’s go.”

“Jihoon-ah!” Jeonghan yelled from the distance, waving high despite being only a few feet away. Seungcheol was frantically trying to stop him but Jeonghan was a force to be reckoned with and it was like stepping into a snowstorm. “Say goodbye to Hoshi-goon and his muscles for today. We’ve got a dry recording to run!”

Jihoon flinched, blushing at an all time high. The blood rushed up to his head quickly and it made him feel light headed. He swayed and stumbled a bit. “Woah--!” Soonyoung said as he took a step to try to catch Jihoon just in case. But Jihoon was strong. He wasn’t called the nation’s number one ruthless producer for nothing.

He held his head with one hand as he gained his balance back. Jeonghan was going to get a lot of paperwork for all this teasing, he decided as he simply waved a hand in Soonyoung’s general direction without looking at him. Whether or not Soonyoung took the hint and left, Jihoon didn’t look back to find out. He wasn’t about to let Jeonghan’s teasing affect him no matter how pink his face had become.

“Stop the racket and focus on your work. We’ve got a lot of things to do and little time to prepare. I don’t need _or want_ any distractions.” Jihoon said, standing in front of Jeonghan and Seungcheol.

He’s got the authority, Seungcheol, and tons of paperwork under his sleeves. Plus, he was petty as fuck so if Jeonghan wanted to play some games, he’s ready for it. Really. He was sure of it, but then Seungcheol placed a hand on his hip while his other was slapped on the forehead as Jeonghan snickered at Jihoon again.

“Your pink face says otherwise, Jihoonie PD-nim!”

Jeonghan: 1, Jihoon: 0. He _really_ regretted hiring Yoon Jeonghan and he blamed Choi Seungcheol entirely.


	6. jihoonie pd-nim vs the article

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I saw the article.” Whatever possessed Jihoon could get the _fuck out right now_ because he didn’t mean to blurt it out. But there was something about the way Soonyoung was talking to him through the phone that made him say it. It was an indescribable feeling. It was a mixture of relief and worry. Something he never thought he would ever feel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO Y'ALL! As you know, since October has begun, that means November is just around the corner! Hahaha. I just wanted to announce that this fic, **_The Woes (or Wonders) of Jihoonie PD-nim_ will be on a  short hiatus until ~~December~~ January**. This is because I am participating in this year's [NaNoWriMo](https://nanowrimo.org/about), an annual writing "contest" that happens every November from November 1 to 30 where the writer has to reach 50,000 words by the month's end. Which means I need all my focus for that.
> 
> But! My NaNo piece is a SoonHoon anthology! Which means, y'all be getting at least 50 new SoonHoon one-shots with at least 1,500 words each. Hahahah. A bit of a stretch? Maybe. Ambitious? Definitely. Hahahah. I hope you all can wait patiently for the next chapter of Jihoonie PD-nim! See you at NaNo! ❤❤❤
> 
>  
> 
> PS. DIAMOND EDGE WAS SO GREAT IT WAS SO FUN THE PRETTY U FAIRYTALE REMIX WAS ASKDJHGAKJH AND THE BEAUTIFUL CHOREO WAS GREAT. MY I WAS EVEN BETTER LIVE AND I'M SO GLAD CHINA-LINE WERES ABLE TO COME TOO. HABIT IS BETTER LIVE TOO. ALSO HELLO SOONYOUNG'S FOREHEAD AND COMMA HAIR. YOU LOOK LIKE A SUPER SAIYAN AT ONE POINT. MINGHAO'S ENGLISH! JOSHUA'S SAMBA! SOONHOON! JEONGCHEOL! VERKWAN! JUNHAO! 17/10 WOULD GO AGAIN. ❤❤❤❤❤

Jihoon never liked going online. Sometimes, maybe, as a necessity like when he would get lost finding his way to a location shoot. The maps on Naver helped usually. His phone only had the pre-installed apps when he bought it. A few additionals would be some productivity and music apps. He had been scolded once or twice for not having any entertainment news apps since he was a variety show producer. Not even Twitter or Instagram.

He never liked going through and reading Pann or Dispatch. Any major news, he got from the television he left on in the background once in awhile or newspapers. Other news came from gossip-- water dispenser talk within the office. Mostly it was from a conversation between Jeonghan, Seungcheol, and Mingyu. (Even though with Jeonghan, it was more locker room talk.)

But the article caught his eyes. It was quick. His eyes scanned the words on reflex and it grabbed his attention. Just simple letters squished together to make up a pathetic sentence. To make up garbled words that held no meaning. A pathetic excuse of a catchy title.

**_Hoshi Plagiarises All His Music?_ **

Had it been a newspaper, Jihoon would have torn it apart and threw it like the garbage article it really was. It was baseless. There was no proof or evidence. It had no support to its claim.

But why did it have over half a million views?

He debated a bit about reading the comments. Today was a free day for the team and crew. They worked restlessly for the past weeks so that they had enough footage for their Chuseok special. Now it was the network’s job to air it since all the work from filming to editing was done. Did he really want to spend his free day reading about baseless articles and most probably stupid comments from the pathetic article?

It was too late; he scrolled down.

There was a picture of Soonyoung, all dress in black as if to show his “shame”. It was an old photo while he was about to enter the airport for an overseas performance. He just so happened to be wearing all black, looking more sleepy than ashamed the longer Jihoon looked at it.

But people liked believing what they wanted to believe--what was more convenient for them to believe--especially in the entertainment industry as harsh as the Korean entertainment industry. Jihoon felt disgusted. Horrible. Apologetic to Soonyoung because Jihoon had seen how hard he had worked to get to where he was.

Idols get hate articles like this every day. In the Korean entertainment industry, you really can’t please everyone. _Someone_ was bound to start a baseless rumor. It’s gossip. It’s entertainment.

His phone rang loud, surprising him and catching him off guard from his intense stare. Without thinking, he swiped his phone to answer.

“Jihoonie PD-nim~ I heard you’re free today!” Jihoon’s eyes widened at the voice he heard from the other end of the line. “Can I cash in my winning date yet?”

“Hoshi-sshi--”

“I’m off today too, so Soonyoung’s fine.”

Jihoon blinked while he kept his phone to his ear. He turned to see his television still turned on, the news moved on to world news as the anchor read from his notes and the teleprompter. He made his way to his television, searched for the remote control before turning it off. “How did you get this number?”

“Jeonghan-hyung gave it to me last time?” Because _of course_ he did. “I mean, if you wanted to do something else I guess that’s fine. I just thought that you’d want to do something else other than stay cooped inside your apartment and--”

“I saw the article.” Whatever possessed Jihoon could get the _fuck out right now_ because he didn’t mean to blurt it out. But there was something about the way Soonyoung was talking to him through the phone that made him say it. It was an indescribable feeling. It was a mixture of relief and worry. Something he never thought he would ever feel.

“Oh,” was Soonyoung’s short response.

“I--” Now that he blurted it out, there was nothing else in his mind. He wanted to ask so many things. So many words jumbled inside his brain. Scrambled and all over the place as if his brain was playing scrabble by itself without any of the vowels. He wondered if Soonyoung looked as flustered as he felt. “Soonyoung-sshi, I--”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Soonyoung said, dismissively, “I’ve read articles that said worse things about me.”

“ _What_?” Jihoon snapped. Suddenly, all the worry flew out the window. “ _What_ other things?”

There was a chuckle at the other end of the line, as if he found Jihoon’s reaction very amusing. “I’m not exactly subtle about wanting to take you out, Jihoonie.”

“What does that--”

“Koreans may have been a bit more accepting, but there are still those who are very conservative and very outspoken about it. It’s an oxymoron but it’s not like it’s a secret that I really, _really_ like you.”

Jihoon felt his cheeks flush. Even through the phone, Kwon Soonyoung managed to sound slick and smooth. “You’re an idiot.”

“So I’ve been told.” Soonyoung said happily from the other end of the line. It didn’t even sound mocking. His tone was genuinely happy. “But really. It’s not that big of a deal. As long as my fans trust me, I think I’ll be fine.”

Jihoon sat on his couch, looking down at his lap. The apartment was clear of any noise save for the cars down the street of his apartment. All he could hear was his breathing in time with Soonyoung’s. There was confidence in his voice. Of course, an inkling of fear and anxiety, if Jihoon strained his ears enough. Hoshi was no longer a rookie, but he was still considered a fresh face. He hadn’t passed five years yet. For someone to completely spread a rumor about him _plagiarising_ …

“How do you do it,” Jihoon asked, no longer worried about his brain-to-mouth filter (or lack thereof), “how can you sound so sure?” Soonyoung chuckled. Jihoon lied back, letting his head fall back onto the top of the couch as he waited patiently for the answer.

“No one really asks for rumors or hate articles and comments,” Soonyoung began, “but you really can’t please everyone. _Someone_ is going to hate you for what you do. _Someone_ will always have something to say. _Someone_ is going to oppose you. _Someone_ will be jealous even if they don’t admit it to anyone, even themselves much less online.”

Jihoon kept silent. “I guess it all boils down to how _I_ feel about myself. About my music, my choreography. It’s _my_ art. I believe that those who are genuinely fans of mine know how much I put into my craft. How much thought, blood, sweat, and tears I put into each of my songs and performances. I guess those who believe in those kinds of articles instead of me are just… maybe they’re fans I don’t need.”

It made sense, Jihoon mused. In the industry, fan interaction and fan service was encouraged. Not only did it make fans feel special, it made idols and other celebrities themselves feel more human.

“I’d like to think that you’re one of those people who would believe me than some pathetic, baseless rumor though.” Soonyoung said, and it pulled an airy chuckle out of Jihoon.

“You’re something else, Kwon Soonyoung.” On the other end of the line, Soonyoung laughed heartedly. It was loud, boisterous and ridiculous. But it gave Jihoon a sense of ease. Like everything was really going to be okay from there on.

“Well then, about that date…”

“I’ll call you back, Hoshi-sshi.” The corner of Jihoon’s lips twitched up into an amused smile as Soonyoung sputtered. For once, it was nice to hear Soonyoung flustered instead of the other way around. “See you next time you record with us again.”

Jihoon ended the call without hearing Soonyoung say goodbye (knowing him, he was able to say it despite the flustered sputtering). He looked at his phone’s lock screen. _10:40_. Not much time had gone since he answered the call.

With a deep breath, Jihoon unlocked his phone and steeled himself. He hyped himself up, whispering under his breath that everything was okay. Soonyoung trusted the fans to believe in him.

[+6435, -817] _Who would even post something like this? Have you even listened to his songs? Have you watched his performances? Hoshi is amazing! Your article is tasteless and it shouldn’t be up in the first place_.

[+3922, -566] _Hoshi-nim dances and sings really well. Why would you say that his songs are plagiarized? Where is your proof? You just want attention don’t you kekekekeke_

[+2055, -334] _HO!! SHI!! IS!! GREAT!! You are wasting your time trying to ruin his reputation._

[+1717, -178] _I met Hoshi in real life in Hongdae. He dances well. He even greets everyone, Koreans and foreigners alike. He is a very nice person. Don’t believe this article. This is just an anti wanting attention._

[+600, -2240] _He deserves it kekekeke. His music is too similar to his sunbaenims. How did he even debut in the first place ?? He should just disappear kekekekeke_

[+321, -98] _I believe in you Hoshi! Fighting!_

Jihoon smiled as he continued to scroll down through the comments. Soonyoung was right. His trust in his fans was not misplaced.

Maybe there was a way to convince the executives to invite Hoshi on the show again, Jihoon thought as he clicked thumbs up to all the comments defending Soonyoung. Jeonghan, Seungcheol, Mingyu and the rest of the crew would love to have him back. He’d like to show the antis that they messed with the wrong person.

And what better way to do that than to show them just how successful Hoshi truly was?


	7. jihoonie pd-nim vs the sinking feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Soonyoung-ah had nothing but praises about you,” she said, throwing a teasing smile at Soonyoung who suddenly seemed too busy ordering delivery than to talk to them, “and he’s right. You’re _very_ cute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK! Hello, i missed this au so much i couldn't get my hands off of it tbh. anyway, for those who don't follow me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/shinybicho), you probably have noticed that i wasn't able to reach 50 fics or 50k words... OTL but don't fret! i'll still finish all the prompts i have because i do like them but life, as always, got in the way and i couldn't find the inspiration and time to write them. luckily, i love and miss jihoonie pd-nim so have this chapter before the end of the year!
> 
> #WePurpleUTaehyung, #PrinceJoshuaDay!

“Yeah, okay, _no_ ,” the voice was exasperated. Tired. “You can’t put your hand _there_. It needs to be lower.”

“Here?”

Jihoon paused, not sure if he heard right. That was Soonyoung’s voice. With someone else’s. With a woman’s. Jihoon was listening in on Soonyoung doing… _something_ with a woman.

“Okay,” the voice said quickly as if to pacify the person they were with but something still wasn’t right, “okay, then the grip needs to be tighter. You have to _fist_ it.” Being a producer meant that one was experienced with many clichés that dramas and variety shows bring. Rationally, Jihoon knew they weren’t doing anything lewd, not in a dance practice room in a company building because that was wrong… probably. Maybe. _Somehow_!

“ _Tighter_!” the voice said again a little more desperately and then there was a grunt and a sigh. Jihoon’s brain supplied various scenarios happening inside and it was frustrating, annoying, and embarrassing.

“That’s not-- wait, no, no! Not like _that_ , don’t--!!” The voice was frantic, and then there was a loud thud that resonated even outside the dance practice room, making Jihoon flinch.

Carefully, Jihoon pushed the door open, wincing at the loud creaking sounds the hinges made but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what happened inside.

It was _definitely_ Soonyoung, his voice always constant in Jihoon’s life whether or not he wanted it, and he was on top of someone. Someone smaller, more lithe, and a bit more petite. Her hair was sprawled all over the floor while Soonyoung was on his forearms. His head was right beside hers and his body engulfed her own, but he still kept himself upright just enough so that their bodies weren’t really touching.

That didn’t explain the bubbling feeling of anger that rose inside Jihoon.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” Soonyoung groaned and the body underneath him just twisted a bit, maybe trying to lessen the soreness she was surely feeling while lying down on the cold, hard floor. Soonyoung pushed up, trying to stop his disorientation from the fall. He shook his head before pushing away, and sitting on his butt. He held out a hand to help her sit up properly.

“Sorry,” Soonyoung said with a sheepish look. The woman’s back was still facing Jihoon and he couldn’t quite make out who it was.

“Break?” Soonyoung then said hopefully, as if trying to negotiate with the woman. The woman shook her head and there was a breathless chuckle that reached Jihoon. “I know this great place that delivers in, like, fifteen minutes or less.”

Her light brown hair was quite long and wavy, curving just playfully around her figure. She was wearing typical dancing clothes, baggy sweatpants and a crop top that showed just the right amount of skin that it didn’t look anything but professional despite it. Soonyoung wore something similar; baggy sweatpants and a loose hoodie that looked too big for his body but Jihoon knew it fit him just right. (He can’t explain _how_ he knew, and he’d rather just drown himself in the Han River than endure Jeonghan’s scrutiny.)

“Alright,” she said, resigned, and Jihoon _knew_ that voice, “it better be fifteen minutes or less, Soonyoung-ah.” She teased playfully as Soonyoung scrambled to get his phone and she laughed.

Her laughter was bright and bubbly, yet sweet even when loud. The feeling inside Jihoon bubbled up to his throat as he swallowed to force it down and it tasted like bile. She stood up on her own while Soonyoung was placing an order through a call. She turned to face the mirror and stretched.

Kim Chungha was a brilliant soloist idol. She was one of the idols who always had a hand at the production of her performances, mostly the choreography. She was known for her powerful, cute, and sexy dances depending on her performances and Jihoon absolutely thought that she was the perfect match for Hoshi _and_ Kwon Soonyoung.

When Soonyoung looked up from his phone, his eyes bore into Jihoon and Jihoon only realized a second too late that he was caught watching Chungha stretching.

“Jihoonie PD-nim!” Soonyoung’s voice was still _loud_ for Jihoon’s ears and he winced. A blush crept up his cheeks at being caught standing at the doorway and maybe just a little embarrassed, scared that he might have been caught staring also.

Soonyoung bounced over quickly, surprising Jihoon at the sudden proximity. He turned his head and looked away, staring at the far wall behind Chungha who turned to watch them from where she stood with a small smile.

“What are you doing here?” Soonyoung asked excitedly, his face flushed whether from excitement or exhaustion, Jihoon didn’t know. He was determined to only keep a peripheral view of Soonyoung and that meant not looking directly at his face that was too close for comfort.

“Hi,” Jihoon said, casting a quick glance at Soonyoung but passing him by to hold out a polite hand at Chungha with a bow, “Lee Jihoon, variety show producer.”

“Jihoonie PD-nim,” Chungha said, giggling at the end, sounding very amused, “very nice to meet you.” She took his hand politely in hers and she bowed as the shook hands lightly. When they stood, Jihoon saw that he was only a few inches taller.

“Soonyoung-ah had nothing but praises about you,” she said, throwing a teasing smile at Soonyoung who suddenly seemed too busy ordering delivery than to talk to them, “and he’s right. You’re _very_ cute.”

Jihoon barely stopped a twitch. He reminded himself that Kim Chungha was a delightful woman and did not deserve any headbutts meant for Soonyoung. He kept a tight smile, the bubbling feeling in his chest up to a boiling point though he still didn’t know what it was and why it was there.

“Soonyoung seems to still be ordering,” she said, disrupting him from his thoughts about the feeling in his chest, “do you want to join us?”

Soonyoung, upon hearing her invite, looked up at them again, face brightening even in the poorly lit dance practice room. Jihoon took a step back, unsure how to tell them but determined not to give in. He was in the compamy building for a reason and he’d have to endure teasing from Jeonghan if he forgot about it. So he took another step back, raising his hands and waved them while shaking his head with the most polite smile he could manage.

“I,” he tried to say as he continued his way blindly walking backwards, “I actually have a meeting. Besides, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Soonyoung’s face fell and the pout was almost enough for him to reconsider. But Lee Jihoon was _unaffected_ , god damn it. Kim Chungha looked at him then at Soonyoung before turning back at him with a raised brow then glancing at Soonyoung with a questioning look. Neither of them really paid much attention to her as Soonyoung was busy pouting (after finishing the call) and Jihoon was busy standing his ground about not joining them for food.

“I don’t really mind,” she said finally, staring at Jihoon as of she knew something from the way the corner of her lips twitched, “and you didn’t disturb us. We were really about to have a break. Soonyoung seemed to be having a hard time dancing a certain piece.”

Her voice was teasing, more so at Soonyoung now and it sent a wave of relief over Jihoon though he didn’t understand why. The bubbling feeling in his chest returned, crawling up and tasting sour and oddly bitter and salty. His brows scrunched down as he watched her and Soonyoung almost bantering about the choreography.

Jihoon had never seen Soonyoung so animated like this. He knew about Soonyoung’s passion for dance. It was all he ever shared during his rookie days. He also knew the endless hours upon hours it took to practice and come up with new choreography. He witnessed Soonyoung showing up to variety show recordings that increased his exposure, beaten and tired and almost on the verge of collapse. So he _knew_ Soonyoung’s passion for dance and he understood it; but he only understood it up to a certain point.

Kim Chungha seemed to understand him very well, and that thought made the bubbling feeling in his chest sink down harder and faster than the Titanic. His stomach felt heavy, as if he swallowed a boulder even though his throat felt suddenly too thick in his own body. Maybe he had a flu…

“PD-nim,” she called him, glancing at him with wide and wonderful eyes that sparkled, “do you want to see the piece we were working on while we wait for the delivery?”

Jihoom felt his back against the corner of the door that was left ajar. He shook his head vehemently, though he slowed it down when he realized how foolish and embarrassing it was to be so obvious about the rejection. He casted a smile, as it still felt tight on his face and barely reaching his eyes. He shook his head and bowed slightly.

“Thank you, Chungha- _sshi_ ,” he said even as he was ready to turn and walk away, “but I’m really late for my meeting.”

It was a stretch of an excuse even to his own ears, but the sinking feeling in his stomach and the bubbling feeling that felt tighter than before screamed at him to leave. Without waiting for their reply, surely knowing that they were going to try to convince him to stay, Jihoon bowed again and exited the practice room.

He pounded his chest and rubbed his stomach to try to relieve the feelings in them, but at the thought that the two of them were alone and surely about to practice again seemed to make it worsen.

Jihoon figured, after the meeting with the producers for a new episode, he’ll have time to get himself checked in the hospital. As long as the idea of Kim Chungha and Kwon Soonyoung alone and together in a room was kept locked, deep in his mind.


	8. jihoonie pd-nim vs the staff with meat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He should have _known_ that Jeonghan was truly a snake and that he would have absolutely taken advantage of the fact that all Jihoon said was “everyone in the studio”. He really should have known.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR! i hope 2018 for you is blessed with opportunities and the happiest moments (and soonhoon). WHAT BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE THAN TO ACCIDENTALLY WRITE 1900 WORDS FOR THIS CHAPTER? first fic/ch of the year for me! thank you all for reading! ♥

Jihoon had promised if they reached a certain rating in an episode, he would treat _everyone in the studio_ to meat.

He should have been so much more specific with his words.

Kwon Soonyoung showed up just in time for Jeonghan to announce the ratings they received earlier that day. They were all saving it for until they finished wrapping up the recording for the day as “inspiration”. No one noticed him walk in as everyone inside were eerily quiet.

“Hope you’ve got money on you, PD-nim,” Jeonghan said, waving the paper at Jihoon and the whole studio _lost it_. The staff were hugging each other, screaming and yelling and _chanting_ for meat. Jihoon knew this day would have come sooner than later and he was just glad that he had enough foresight to save up for the occasion.

Then they turned around and they saw Soonyoung with a goofy smile on his face, as proud as it could be with that kind of smile. Jeonghan also smiled, more sinister from.Jihoon’s peripherals. “You joining us, Hoshi-goon?”

Soonyoung blinked innocently but his smile never waned. Jihoon glared darkly at Jeonghan, though he should have known that it wasn’t ever going to be effective.

“I only meant everyone in the staff,” Jihoon said with a warning tone. Seungcheol wrapped his arm around Soonyoung’s shoulders and pulled him closer inside the studio.

“Jihoonie PD-nim had promised that if we were to reach a certain rating for any episode, he’d be treating everyone _inside the studio_ to meat!”

“And since you, Hoshi-goon, were inside of said studio at the time of this announcement and currently still inside this studio for _this_ announcement, therefore you are invited as well for FREE MEAT!” Jeonghan finished for Seungcheol and everyone in the studio roared in excitement. The studio vibrated at the sound, the staff and the production assistants happy at the sound of free meat.

Jihoon swallowed the urge to hit Jeonghan in front of witnesses and when Soonyoung glanced to him with expectation, he glared. It was then that everyone in the studio kept silent, but all eyes were on him. All _puppy_ eyes were on him. He knew that his staff loved Kwon Soonyoung just not to this extent.

He glanced at Soonyoung with narrowed eyes, assessing the ways Soonyoung could interpret this as his “winning date” though he had to concede that Jeonghan was right. (He should have _known_ that Jeonghan was truly a snake and that he would have absolutely taken advantage of the fact that all Jihoon said was “everyone in the studio”. He really should have known.)

With a disgruntled sigh and a scratch of the back of his head, he nodded and walked out, resolutely ignoring the cheers and claps on Soonyoung’s shoulder. This was a staff dinner. Just a staff dinner. There was nothing else about it and that was what Jihoon continued to tell himself as he tried to forget the giddy look and smile Soonyoung threw at him before he left.

It was really surprisingly easy to find a restaurant that could accommodate all of them. They were loud and boisterous, and Jihoon expected nothing less from his staff and crew. They ordered almost everything in the menu. Jihoon felt like the staff of the restaurant decided that it might have been better to just close the store for them.

It was a quaint restaurant, a typical Korean hole-in-the-wall spot that was best enjoyed for dinner with soju, noraebang, and meat. The seats were close to each other as the tables were rounded for a more intimate and cosy feel with a grill in the middle of it for easy access for all people seated. The table was large enough to accommodate all side dishes and the plates of meat and lettuce, even with the bowls of rice and the pitchers of water and tea. All in all, Jihoon thought they were pretty lucky to find such a good place.

“Soonyoung-ah!” An old woman greeted, coming out from the kitchen doors with a smile and a whole tray of _more_ food. Jihoon watched as the old woman passed their table by, ruffling Soonyoung’s hair and pinching his cheeks as if he were her favorite grandchild.

The longer Jihoon looked around, the more he saw how comfortable the staff were with Soonyoung. He knew each of them by name, greeted them as if they were all long time friends and they greeted him back and talked to him as if he wasn’t one of the most well-known celebrities in the entire country. It should have surprised Jihoon, but it didn’t.

“WE’LL EAT WELL!” The staff and the crew roared as loud as they could, even louder than the music playing in the background. And just like in the studio, the restaurant vibrated at the sound. The old woman smiled at all of them even after almost dropping her tray in surprise. She laughed, delighted at the way everyone began devouring her food.

Jihoon found a wrap on his plate while he was busy pouring soju for everyone (Mingyu was left at another table since they only fit four per). He stared at it for a long time, the smell of the meat together with the marinate and garlic overpowering but in the best way. He glanced at Jeonghan and Seungcheol, trying their hardest not to smile by eating their own made wraps before drinking their shots of soju. Then he glanced at Soonyoung who was happily turning the meat on the grill with the tongs.

The noise inside the restaurant died down and Jihoon felt all eyes on him _again_. The only sounds left were the sounds of the meat being grilled and it was mostly only due to Soonyoung adding and removing food from the grill. They were all waiting to see if Jihoon ate the wrap on his plate. The wrap that looked like it was overflowing and yet stayed whole. There was still steam coming from inside, the meat still hot off the grill. He could smell the spiciness of the pepper paste and the garlic, the juiciness of the meat together with just enough side dishes mixed together in one perilla leaf and lettuce leaf. All of it shouldn’t have made Jihoon’s mouth water. It was everything stuffed into one bite but Jihoon couldn’t stop thinking how _good_ it smelled.

They were all chanting, he was sure, cheering Soonyoung on even though it was just a wrap. He glared darkly at Seungcheol and Jeonghan who were enjoying their own wraps that were already in their mouths, chewing slowly so as to not disturb the silence inside the restaurant. Even the staff of the restaurant and the old lady seemed to be watching him. Knowing that it was too late, _everyone_ knew Jihoon had a wrap on his plate, he closed his eyes and shoved the wrap into his mouth.

The restaurant cheered, shaking the venue to an almost comical way had they been in a cartoon or manhwa. The chatter returned and even the staff of the restaurant were smiling and talking to Jihoon’s crew.

Jihoon hated that it tasted so _good_.

He took his shot glass and drank it in one gulp before he poured another to drink. At the corner of his eye, he saw Soonyoung making another one, a little amused from the way Jihoon had been drinking. Moving quickly, Jihoon grabbed and made his own wrap, shoving it into his mouth. It was still okay, filled with a good ratio of meat and side dishes except it had too much garlic and an uneven amount of pepper paste.

It was annoying that Soonyoung knew how to make a really good wrap. The shows Hoshi was part of always mentioned how he was alone in his apartment and how he could barely cook for himself even for just a ramyeon. The hosts and the other guests laughed along with Hoshi and it seemed like the most well-known fact: Kwon Soonyoung could not cook.

And yet the wrap given to Jihoon was so delicious, Jihoon hated that the flavor was all he could think of. In order to avoid receiving another wrap and giving Jeonghan _more_ ammunition to tease him with, he just got whatever he could reach at the moment before shoving it into his mouth. He couldn’t savor the flavors on his tongue as much as he wanted because each of them overpowered the other. None of the flavors he made harmonized the way he preferred and he just _hated_ that the flavor he preferred was one Kwon Soonyoung had made.

“Having fun, dear?” The old woman stood beside their table, her tray right by her hip after she placed refills of their side dishes and more bottles of soju. A staff member took the empty plates and bottles before moving onto the next table. Jihoon glanced up, just quickly, expecting Soonyoung to answer except the old woman was smiling down at _him_.

Jihoon swallowed. “Yes,” he coughed slightly in surprise, “these are really good.” Soonyoung handed him a glass of water, and Jihoon ignored the knowing smiles Jeonghan and Seungcheol were giving him.

The old woman’s smile was soft and it caused Jihoon to blush slightly at the warmth it gave him. She nodded at Soonyoung, her gaze hard but proud. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Everyone in the table jumped. Soonyoung flinched and held the tongs closer to his body. The staff that passed by smirked and chuckled as if it was an everyday occurrence that the old woman scolded him. Sheepishly, Soonyoung smiled at her and went back to cooking the meat on the grill. “I thought I was doing well.”

The old woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. “How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t turn the meat repeatedly?” She walked around the table closer to Soonyoung. “Just leave it for a few minutes on one side. Flip _once_ , Soonyoung.”

The look on Soonyoung’s face was embarrassed but he persisted, his hand twitching just a bit with an itch to flip the meat again. But the old woman was watching him like a hawk and it only took a bit more of that scene for Jihoon to realize that Soonyoung _learned_ from this woman. He learned how to cook the meat and how to make a wrap. A skill he used to give the first wrap to Jihoon.

The old woman caught Jihoon’s eyes and she winked at him with a knowing smile of her own. Jihoon looked away, embarrassed at being caught watching them. With a sigh, Jihoon grabbed his chopsticks and straightened them, reaching for the meat and carefully placing small amounts of side dishes onto it on a perilla and lettuce leaf before adding some pepper paste and a grilled garlic slice. With sure hands, he wrapped it around, making sure that none of the insides were showing or forcing the leaves open. It might have been too big and too overflowing. The meat Jihoon chose was just a little on the raw side and the grilled garlic slice was already as black as charcoal.

Soonyoung stared at the wrap just as Jihoon had with his. He glanced up quickly to look at Jihoon, but Jihoon was already busy preparing his next wrap, resolutely ignoring the looks and smiles thrown his way. His ears were bright pink despite the heat inside. Soonyoung smiled and shoved the entire wrap in his mouth and with no shame, exclaimed. “This is the greatest wrap I’ve ever had.”


	9. jihoonie pd-nim vs the love letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _To Hoshi-sunbaenim,_ the letter read and Jihoon should have closed it there and returned it to the person it really belonged to but in the back of the letter was a reply.

“You really should just tell him,” someone whispered as they were setting up the next part of the studio. It was just another day for recording and they had just a few more things to do before they called it a wrap. Of course, the gossip was just as part of it as everything else especially when they were filming groups.

“It’s just--” another whispered. Her voice was almost on the verge of crying. “It feels so forward, Jihye-ah.”

“It’s a love letter,” a third voice said, and Jihoon could hear her eyes rattling from rolling.

“But,” the second voice protested again and had Jihoon been a romantic, he would have offered to pass it on to whoever the love letter was addressed to, “he’s _Hoshi_. I’m just a member of a rookie girl group fresh out of the company dungeon.”

Jihoon’s hand froze above the clipboard he held. He paused from flipping the page before he realized what happened and completely turned the page he held over.

“You’re a member of a _rising_ rookie girl group fresh out of the dungeon.” A whack echoed resoundingly, causing Jihoon to flinch a little. A whine followed soon after with a soft, “ _Ow_ , unnie.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better, Haemi-ah,” the second voice sighed deeply.

Jeonghan coughed, catching their attention. Jihoon heard them gasp in surprise, only lowly screaming. From the corner of his eyes, Jihoon saw Jeonghan with hands on his hips with the script clutched in one of them. He was sure Jeonghan had a raised brow too, judging the girls for all they were worth.

The girls huddled together, still new to the variety show scene, unsure of what will happen. They had name tags pinned to their clothing just large enough for their cameras to pick up but not too big that it almost swallowed their torsos. There were five of them, a multi-mix girl group that would be able to cover all genres of music (according to their group’s page in their company’s website, anyway). They sounded impressive and their earlier performance of their debut song was exciting to watch. But for the life of him, Jihoon just couldn’t remember their group’s name.

“Are you all fresh from retouching? Had some crackers and water from the buffet table? All dressed up and ready for the next segment?” Jeonghan asked and Jihoon saw all the girls nodding their heads appropriately after each question with just the right mix of fear.

The girl in the middle clutched an envelope closer to her and Jihoon figured she was the one who wanted to give the love letter to Hoshi. Jeonghan nodded in satisfaction with their answers and proceeded to talk about what they were going to do for the next segment.

It was all a blur to Jihoon because all he could think of was the letter in the envelope. A love letter. To Hoshi. It was a love letter to Kwon Soonyoung. Something about that thought gave him an unsettling feeling. It was a bit uncomfortable to think about Kwon Soonyoung receiving something like a love letter from a rookie girl group.

And yet it was all Jihoon thought of. The girls walked to the middle of the studio where all the cameras were pointed at. Jeonghan still gave instructions and the rest of their guests listened in, crowding the girls just right without being too creepily close. The envelope was hidden inside the girl’s skirt pocket, folded really well that it didn’t even look like it was in the pocket. Jihoon blinked and looked away, forcing his brain to concentrate on what was _actually_ happening inside the studio.

He had to hand it to Jeonghan for taking care of the segments for their show. It was difficult to come up with them and to do so on a weekly basis to make sure that their audience would never get tired was even more difficult even if he was a pain in the ass.

Majority of the girls screamed and squealed, except the one who Jihoon now recognized as Miyu, the dancer and face of the girl group she was in. She flew to Seoul from Kyoto to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer and after years of being a trainee, debuted only recently. She was starting to be known for her small choreographies that were incorporated into their group dances. It was little and they were obviously still starting, but Jihoon can’t help but hope for a flowery path for the girls.

The envelope fell out of Miyu’s pocket just in time for Jeonghan to call cut. Jihoon blinked rapidly, a small part of him feeling guilty that the segment had gone by without him realizing. He hoped none of his crew noticed.

Jeonghan clapped his hands and the rest followed as the guest celebrities bowed and clapped in appreciation. They still had a few cuts left to film from Jihoon’s understanding but that meant a new number of props and a new set up. The girls in the rookie group huddled in the same corner Jeonghan found them in. The crew did a quick sweep of the background and stage. Jihoon swiftly swiped the folded envelope that was nearly taken by a clean-up crew.

He knew he should have given it back. It wasn’t his letter to read. But in their rush, Miyu had apparently just shoved it into her pocket and the rigorous movements Jeonghan had made them do caused it to fall out of the pocket and the envelope.

_To Hoshi-sunbaenim,_ the letter read and Jihoon should have closed it there and returned it to the person it really belonged to but in the back of the letter was a reply.

_Miyu-sshi,_ the letter began and the sinking feeling from meeting Chungha returned, _thank you for telling me how you feel._

Jihoon walked blindly out of the stage, luckily not bumping into anyone and anything. _But I have to apologize because I don’t think I can reciprocate._ _I love Jihoonie PD-nim._

Jihoon’s heart beat erratically and loudly in his ears. _Though as you said, he might not feel the same way but that doesn’t change how I feel. Thank you again, because it feels nice to know that someone likes you that way but…_

Jihoon gulped and scanned the room to find the girls talking on the other end of the studio. He continued, _...I care about Lee Jihoon, no matter what he says or does. Yes, he’s brash and he’s got one hell of a sailor’s mouth. He barely notices people around him when it’s not related to his show and he does have a mean punch._

Jihoon forced his grip to loosen a bit, not wanting to rip the paper apart but the words Soonyoung seemed to have written made him want to punch something or some _one_.

_But all the same, I really,_ really _like him. He cares for his crew and all the celebrities he handles. He yells at them but he makes sure the cameras and the edits show their good sides. He scolds but he makes sure that it doesn’t end there and that there is room for improvement. He’s cold and easily annoyed, but he’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. He’s been in this industry longer than I have but I’m pretty sure of one thing. Lee Jihoon PD-nim won’t ever do you wrong. Of course, as long as you don’t do him dirty either._

Jihoon snorted and rolled his eyes, ignoring the heat across his cheeks. _He’ll make sure what you say is what you meant during editing and I trust him with my career. For us idols, we may as well have given him the gun, right? Kekekekeke…_

“What do you mean it’s _gone_?” One of the girls, Haemi--Jihoon assumed--yelled from the other end of the room. Miyu was scrambling inside her pockets in search of _something_ and only Jihoon knew what it was.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Jihoon said, handing the slightly crumpled paper to her. Her face was surprised and almost comically in shock. Her mouth was open and her entire face was red down to her neck. “It fell after the last segment. Jeonghan PD-nim was a bit rough with the activity during that cut. Best to rest and eat for now.”

“It’s for _entertainment_ , Jihoonie PD-nim!” Jeonghan yelled from beside Seungcheol, but Jihoon ignored him and shook the letter for Miyu to take.

With tentative hands, Miyu took the letter and nodded her head as a sign of thanks. Jihoon cracked a small smile, just a twitch of his lips. He nodded at her then at the rest of her group before he turned around, deciding to maybe help his crew film the episode.

“PD-nim!” Miyu called out and the other girls, even Jihoon, were surprised. When Jihoon turned back around, there was fire in her eyes that Jihoon saw in rookie groups who were determined to stay in the industry for more than three, five, seven, _ten_ years. She was challenging him. He expected to feel annoyed but instead Jihoon felt proud that he was handling her first variety show appearance. “I’m not going to lose. So the challenges you have? Bring it on.”

Deep down, Jihoon knew what she meant but he also knew it wasn’t his place to address that. He gave her a small smile, nodded, and turned back around, ignoring the hushed whispers of the crew, the other guest celebrities, and her group members.

“You seem a bit chipper for someone who got challenged by a rookie,” Jeonghan commented, but Jihoon merely shook his head and began calling out what else needs to be done, burying deep at the back of his mind to give Hoshi some difficult tasks when he returned to their show.

_...but I’m proud of Jihoonie PD-nim, Miyu-sshi, and I’ll take him on any day, even if he’s cranky or cold or just in need of a shoulder to cry on._

_Take care.  
_ _Hoshi._


	10. jihoonie pd-nim vs the christmas decor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon blinked at Soonyoung, questioning whether he was even real. What kind of idol even came at a producer’s beck and call without even knowing what they were gonna do and where they were going?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a christmas episode about 2 weeks late lol. if you haven't been following me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/shinybicho), you probably do not know that y'all have 5 chapters of fluff before the first angst/drama chapter (there are 6 left). lol just a fair warning so i can say that i fed you fluff before unleashing tears (but maybe not, i'm not that good at angst lmao).
> 
> ps. i need some missions for hoshi-goon. if you want to suggest anything, feel free to send me a DM on twitter, drop an ask on curious cat, or comment here. of course, full credit provided. hahahaha.
> 
> pps. the doll is very much real, i researched this.

“ _Why_ do we need a tree?” Jihoon asked, as exasperated as he could be _again_.

Mingyu held the tinsels with both his hands as he tried to stay away from the tree they were already halfway through building. Jeonghan looked at him as if he was pitiful, and Jihoon _refused_ to squirm under his gaze. Seungcheol was untangling christmas lights near the door entrance and the rest of the crew were sorting the rest of the decors.

Jihoon had woken up that morning with christmas songs playing loudly in stores despite still having a few good weeks left. He had hoped for some normalcy when he arrived to the studio but he should have known that his own studio was anything but normal.

So there he was, trying not to pout out of sheer force of will because Jeonghan had put him to the task of buying _more_ christmas decorations for the studio _and_ the Christmas episode they were going to film later in the day. What bothered him wasn’t so much as being the errand boy, no. What bothered him was who he was buying the decorations and props with.

“Hi,” Kwon Soonyoung busted in from the door, breathless from running to the studio. Jihoon’s face flushed but he was willing to blame it on the cold air that entered. He turned to Jihoon, a bright smile blooming on his face. “Where are we going?”

Jihoon blinked at Soonyoung, questioning whether he was even real. What kind of idol even came at a producer’s beck and call without even knowing what they were gonna do and where they were going? Jihoon looked back at Jeonghan with a face that screamed ‘ _are you fucking serious_?’

Jeonghan, on the other hand, already used to Jihoon, replied with a face that said, ‘ _yep_.’

With a scratch of the back of his head, Jihoon turned and walked out of the studio. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Soonyoung. He blinked at all of them, but he obviously wanted to follow Jihoon despite the confused look on his face.

The elevator tinged at the far distance. The studio was so quiet, they heard it all the way inside. Soonyoung looked back and forth from where Jihoon left and where everyone was still looking at him. The faces of the crew were morphing into a mix of confusion and surprise when Soonyoung didn’t move an inch.

With booming voices, everyone inside the studio yelled at Soonyoung in one voice that shook the entire building at the volume, “GO!”

So Soonyoung went and Jihoon was already inside the elevator that was about to close. Soonyoung squeezed himself through as Jihoon watched with blinking eyes. With a flush, Soonyoung stepped inside and let the doors of the elevator fully close.

The elevator music was barely tolerable. Jihoon didn’t think he had ever seen Soonyoung look so awkward. He knew that Soonyoung was fidgety. It was something that was established when he debut, explaining that his body needed to constantly move as if he was itching to dance, to perform.

“Don’t you have a schedule?” Jihoon asked. He flinched inwardly, hearing the echo of the tone of his question inside the elevator before it opened to the basement. He chanced a look at Soonyoung, a quick movement of his eyes to glance at his face.

Soonyoung looked giddy beyond belief. As if he couldn’t believe he just stepped out of the elevator with Jihoon. They walked towards their own cars, separating as they crossed. Jihoon blinked and Soonyoung stared at him. Both of them were waiting on one another, their keys already dangling from their fingers. It was almost like a battle of wits until Jihoon realized what they were going to do.

Cursing under his breath, Jihoon crumpled his face in irritation before walking to Soonyoung’s car. It was considerably bigger and that meant more space for whatever decorations they find and more space between them. His car was smaller, just enough for one person and if two grown men rode it, they would be touching shoulders and being in close proximity of Soonyoung was the last thing Jihoon needed that moment.

Thankfully the trip to the store was short. By some miracle, they found a great parking space and in no time, they were pulling a cart through the aisles.

Jihoon didn’t bother looking back as he pushed the cart in front of him. He went straight to the decorations aisles, mentally checking off an invisible list of decorations and props that they needed. Soonyoung followed behind him, walking a respectful distance while he kept his head tilted just slightly down in case anyone recognized him. They needed to finish quickly, Jihoon thought and he repeated to himself that it was because they were filming in a few hours and not because Soonyoung looked just a bit uncomfortable. (But he did swear that Jeonghan was going to get a beating for suggesting _Kwon Hoshi_ accompany him to the store.)

He grabbed whatever he could reach on the shelves and dumping it onto the cart. He took boxes of ornaments, not caring if they matched or what the prices were. Soon enough, the cart was halfway full and he had finished one aisle.

Soonyoung appeared in front of him, holding a corner of the cart. Jihoon stopped, pausing with a raised brow. Soonyoung looked around, glanced over, under, and inside the cart with narrowed eyes.

“Jihoonie PD-nim,” he began, taking a box of ornaments from the edge, “do you still need these? You already have a full tree before we left.”

Jihoon raised his other brow, both eyebrows hiding under his fringe. On the other hand, Soonyoung’s eyebrows were pulled in the middle and his lips were curved into a frown. He examined the box and reached for another. The boxes were still of just ornament balls in different color and brands but they looked essentially the same.

“PD-nim,” and Jihoon had never thought he’d ever hear _Soonyoung_ sound so exhasperated, “these are practically _the same_ but they have way too big of a price difference. Are these really necessary? Do you really need ornaments from different brands?”

Soonyoung looked pained as he returned both boxes in the cart to reach for two others. His face was turning a bit more surprised and shocked at each turn to look at the price tags. Jihoon was sure he heard a sob when he reached for a wreath and a box of what looked like had the words ‘ _twerking Santa doll_ ’ written on it. In his defense, he didn’t look at what he took.

After switching glancing at the ridiculous Santa doll and Jihoon numerous times, Soonyoung shook his head and gave him a soft smile as a parent would give their children when they did something crazy.

He walked to stand beside Jihoon, holding the bar handle of the cart before pushing back the way they came. Jihoon blinked at Soonyoung’s retreating back before he could protest. One by one, Soonyoung returned the boxes to the shelves and with some, replaced them with cheaper and more durable ones. He examined them properly and checked the price tags. Jihoon had never seen Soonyoung so serious outside the studio (for film or dance).

Slowly, Jihoon followed behind Soonyoung as the cart became cleaner, less cluttered and filled just enough decorations for their studio. (There were new ones. Simple garlands and some ribbons. A few short christmas lights and decorative candles. They were sleek choices that Jihoon admitted didn’t think possible for someone with Soonyoung’s personality.)

“Jeonghan-hyung actually messaged everything you needed,” Soonyoung admitted as he slowed down so that he was pushing the cart at the same pace as Jihoon, “and what you needed for today’s filming. We just need to grab a few more things then I think we can pay.”

Jihoon nodded, deciding that he could follow Soonyoung’s lead instead. Soonyoung whipped out his phone and Jihoon took a quick glance. True enough, there was a checklist and Soonyoung was checking off a number of items on it. He heard Soonyoung whispering under his breath, counting the items in the cart before he looked up and they moved to another aisle.

After half an hour, they stood behind a check out counter. The cashier beeped each item and Soonyoung’s eyes were following each movement. Jihoon pulled out his own phone and read the message Jeonghan sent.

 _Jihoonie-ah, don’t forget the mistletoe!_

“PD-nim,” Soonyoung called, and when Jihoon looked up, he felt lips press against his cheek, close to the corner of his own lips. He held his reddening cheek as his eyes grew wider at Soonyoung. With a satisfied smile, Soonyoung pointed with his eyes above their heads and Jihoon tilted his head.

It was a mistletoe. Kwon Soonyoung held a _mistletoe_ right above their heads.

Jihoon’s cheeks grew brighter, reaching the tip of his ears. The cashier giggled even as Soonyoung handed the mistletoe so that she could scan it with the rest of the items. With the items packed and paid for (and Jihoon admitted at the back of his mind that they spent way less than usual for shoots), they stuffed the back of Soonyoung’s car with the bags and drove back to the studio.

Jihoon was glad that Soonyoung was humming under his breath even though usually, any other noise irritated him. He welcomed all other noises inside the car that smelled too much like Kwon Soonyoung because at least, it drowned out the loud and erratic beating of his heart.


	11. jihoonie pd-nim vs the special episode recording

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Jihoonie PD-nim,” the owner of a bright voice bounded up to them and Jihoon really, _really_ disliked that voice, “what’s our next segment?”

Lee Jihoon was petty. Everyone knew this. It was a fact and it was never questioned whenever they finished filming an episode. Lee Jihoon was petty and he was taking it out on Kwon Hoshi.

The crew threw glances at him occasionally. He knew what they wanted him to do. The atmosphere around was stiff and he wasn’t dense or an idiot to notice that it was uncomfortable. But he persevered and kept his arms crossed against his chest as he watched Soonyoung being friendly with the hosts and other guests. It was as if there were no cameras until someone yelled cut (it might have been Jeonghan), and they moved to a new segment. Soonyoung was used to the camera, flirting and playing with it as if he was flirting and playing with a romantic partner.

They have had Hoshi guest on their show so many times it was probably only due to Jeonghan’s wit (and sadism, Jihoon admitted) that they never ran out of tasks and punishments for him.

For their new episode, they were filming a New Year special. It was a way to show how good the new year would be for their show. They were still reaching their ratings, and idols and other celebrities were just itching to be part of their variety. New idols and celebrities get known after their episode airs and they message the board and Jihoon to beg for another.

Hoshi was a loved guest member, almost honorary regular at this point with how much episodes he was already in despite not being active for more than three years yet. He accepted each challenge gratefully, and welcomed (and _was_ welcomed by) celebrities and idols alike for team challenges. The New Year special had an extra budget from the success of the previous episodes, so they were able to film outside the studio for the first time in a long while.

So Lee Jihoon stood outside the cloudy, six degree weather in multiple layers of clothing. They tried to call for a sled race since there was only so much you could do in the cold but scraped it out mainly because it was dangerous from their setting. After that, they scheduled for an ‘amazing race’-like segment but they needed to postpone it due to the weather being too cold to move properly and quickly. The New Year special meant extra minutes and those were pretty precious for any type of show. They still need some footage and new segments until they were able to do the ‘amazing race’. He needed to just grin and bear it so he pulled his arms closer to himself and raised his chin high as if to dare anyone to call him out.

And if anyone was stupid enough to do so, it was definitely Kim Mingyu. He huddled closer to Jihoon, nudging him by the elbow and that meant hitting Jihoon on his bicep. Jihoon glared darkly at him, and Mingyu flinched on instinct. But Kim Mingyu lacked the self-preservation of a normal human being and pouted.

“Hyung,” he asked, whining, “why can’t the rest of us wait inside? It’s too _cold_!”

Multiple thoughts ran through his mind. They still needed to go over some footage and then they had to prepare for the ‘amazing race’-like segment. It was over three in the afternoon and they had been filming since five in the morning. While everyone was satisfied, fed, and given hot packs individually, there were still so many things to do and Jihoon was too focused on how to get things done.

“Jihoonie PD-nim,” the owner of a bright voice bounded up to them and Jihoon really, _really_ disliked that voice, “what’s our next segment?”

A pair of hot packs touched his cheeks and he jumped in surprise. He wiped his face and cupped his own cheeks. Jihoon turned to look at the person who caught him off guard. Kwon Hoshi was, as one would expect, unapologetic in a way but at least had the decency to look embarrassed for surprising Jihoon.

Instead, he offered one pack with a waiting smile. Excitement was written all over his face, despite the pinkness of his cheeks and nose that reached all the way to his ears. His scarf wasn’t large enough to cover his face and he hadn’t bothered to wear a beanie or mufflers. Jihoon was annoyed.

Disgruntled, Jihoon accepted it anyway. His smile grew wider to the point where his eyes were slits and curved. Jihoon turned around, burying his face deeper in his own scarf to hide his heated cheeks. It was then that he remembered that Mingyu was still standing with a pout.

Jihoon rolled his eyes and made a shooing movement. Mingyu’s face lightened up before running to the rest of the crew huddled near the cabin. The rest helped pack up the extra lights and tripods, dusting off any snow that may have fallen. Everyone helped packing up, knowing that it was easier with multiple hands than one. Jihoon watched and smiled fondly at his crew as they began playing and rough housing as soon as the precious (and expensive) equipment were hidden and out of the way.

“Are we done for the day?” Soonyoung asked, reminding Jihoon of his presence. Only Soonyoung stood closer, his body heat amazingly radiating off of him.

“For now,” Jihoon replied, turning back to watch his crew throwing snowballs at each other. The guests who had made their way to the cabin joined in suddenly, surprising a lot of them. But that was what he loved about his crew and the variety show. They were all able to become close enough to be considered friends even when the cameras weren’t rolling.

It was still too cold to film any activities outside, but the crew and the celebrities were starting to get more competitive with each throw of a snowball. Jihoon snickered when Mingyu toppled over from a throw by Jeonghan. He was too busy watching everyone get along that he forgot.

The press of cold, chapped lips against his cheek was a shock.

Jihoon snapped his head at Soonyoung who was smiling brightly, proud and apologetic for the peck. A blush rose quickly, the blood rushing up his head at a dizzying pace. He suddenly felt hot despite the temperature but he covered more of his face with his scarf.

He was also about to scold Soonyoung for kissing him in public when a snowball hit the back of his head.

The noises in the background stopped after the gasping and some scrambling. The snow was too cold on his chin, but the shock at getting hit trumped the thought to wipe it off. Until Soonyoung laughed.

It was high pitched and loud. It came right from his stomach that it could probably be heard all the way back to the heart of Seoul. It was boisterous, and light, and pitchy. It made Jihoon’s heart flutter.

“PD-nim,” Soonyoung said in between gasps and gulps, “are you okay?”

Jihoon finally recovered enough to wipe the remaining snow off of his face and back to the ground. He’ll find the culprit later (it was most probably Jeonghan who would pass off the blame to Mingyu). First, he needed to deal with a different idiot.

“I mean,” Soonyoung continued, breathless from his laughter, “that was one hell of a hit--!!”

Snow smacked loudly directly straight to Soonyoung’s face. The impact was strong and with their proximity, it was enough to topple Soonyoung backwards. He fell with a _thwump_ , lucky that the snow was thick enough to cushion the fall. Jihoon smirked, hands on his waist and his scarf slinging a little lower. His gloves were covered in remaining snow. He felt triumphant, lighter than he ever had felt since they began shooting early that morning.

Soonyoung didn’t come back up, still laying on the snow-covered ground with all his limbs spread apart. At first, Jihoon wondered if he was staying still before trying to make a snow angel but the normally twitchy Kwon Hoshi wasn’t moving.

The word ‘frozen’ passed through Jihoon’s mind and suddenly he felt panic rising up his chest. Did they stay out too long in the cold? Was Soonyoung hiding the fact that his blood may have already been freezing without telling _anyone_? Were Soonyoung’s lips blue?

More thoughts drowned out Jihoon’s thinking process and the panic was almost going to win when he took a step closer. He didn’t scramble towards Soonyoung, but it might be a close description. He fell onto his knees and wiped away the remaining snow that was on Soonyoung’s face. Soonyoung’s eyes were closed, and Jihoon was right; his lips were almost blue. The panic rose higher up his throat and he leaned over Soonyoung, trying to get him to sit up and away from the snow as much as possible because he needed to get Soonyoung out and if he had to drag him back to the cabin and wrap him around with blankets and fire, then he would.

Then there was a peck on his lips that caused _him_ to freeze.

Soonyoung’s eyes looked like they were closed, but they were actually open, staring directly at Jihoon with so much emotion.

“It feels nice to have you worry about me,” Soonyoung said, smug and proud and unapologetic for nearly giving Jihoon a heart attack.

With a red face reaching up to the tips of his ears, Jihoon buried Soonyoung back onto the snow, ignoring Soonyoung’s muffled complaint. Jihoon stood up and walked to the cabin, screaming for the crew to get their equipment ready, they’ll change the segment to a snowball fight since they seemed warmed up for it already.

(And if the crew and other celebrities noticed Jihoon’s red face and Soonyoung’s wide smile, they glanced at each other with their own twitch of the lips and kept it to themselves.)


	12. jihoonie pd-nim vs the chocolates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You gave him the entire bag,” Jeonghan said, not one breathe out of place even when brisk walking, “there must have been a whole chocolate bar’s worth left in there. Or two. Or five.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi y'all. this is the "long awaited" ch12 that reached 2,420 words. this is also a very fluffy chapter because as i've said on [twitter](https://twitter.com/shinybicho), first angst chapter is ch16. pam (@dracomalfail) guessed i might reach 3k soon and i fear that she may be very well right. HAHAHAH
> 
> but anyway please don't always expect updates will be like this chapter on twitter hahaha. this just happened for ch12 because of the "plot" of the chapter. i'm not sure when the next chapter will come out so i hope you understand!
> 
> ps. personally do you think it's okay if i leave my ko-fi account here? (>_>) (i mean no pressure or anything just if you'd like ;;;;;;)

“Did you get anything yet?” Jeonghan popped up beside him inside his cubicle and he only glanced quickly before returning to his paperwork. It was a list of ratings of the shows playing at the same time slot as their variety show from other broadcasting companies. He needed to analyse their episodes and aim for a higher rating (even when the ratings were high enough for a variety show in that time slot anyway. But the executives…).

Jeonghan walked inside his cubicle, searching high and low for… _something_. It was almost as if he wanted to turn Jihoon’s place upside down just to find whatever he was looking for.

Jihoon needed to draw a line when Jeonghan started crawling. “Hyung, what the _fuck_?”

He looked back up before sighing in frustration. Jeonghan scratched the back of his head and annoyance was written all over his face. With a glare, Jeonghan stood and leaned on one arm on Jihoon’s desk. Jihoon wasn’t intimidated and instead, raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Do you even _know_ what today is?”

“Wednesday.” Jihoon answered straightforwardly, still not understanding where Jeonghan was getting at.

“Do you know the _date_?” Jeonghan looked almost desperate and yet he was looking at Jihoon as if he grew a second head.

“It’s…” Jihoon paused. He narrowed his eyes, looking for a calendar before he gave up and pulled his phone out.

“It’s March 14, Lee Jihoon,” Jeonghan said, another head scratch in frustration. Just a little more and Jihoon thought that he’d go for a ‘woke up like this’ look. “Jihoon-ah, it’s _White Day_.”

Three counts. It took three counts for Jihoon to finally realize what Jeonghan meant by it being White Day. It was White Day. It was _White Day_.

“So,” Jeonghan emphasized with a tone and lengthened the vowel, leaning just a bit closer, “what did you get?”

Jihoon pushed his chair back, standing and moving away from Jeonghan. His cheeks flushed and he ignored Jeonghan’s smug look and quirked eyebrow. He curled his fists, letting his nails bite into his palms and he looked away.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, hyung,” Jihoon said, gathering his paperwork and reports. Maybe moving to a conference room and locking the door would help him get _something_ done…

“I mean, you gave Hoshi-goon chocolate during Valentine’s… didn’t you?”

The tone was teasing, fishing for more information and Jihoon knew that. He knew how Jeonghan’s mind worked and how he asked questions to get the answer he wanted to hear. He would twist as much as he could just so he could use whatever answer it was that was given to him. Jihoon _knew_ that.

“I didn’t give him anything,” he said, fixing his piles of paper, “it was a small treat for the celebrities and the crew. Seungcheol got one, Mingyu got one, _you_ got one.”

“Yeah, but Soonyoung got the rest of it.” Jeonghan said and his tone was getting too dangerous for Jihoon’s taste. So he picked up his folders and paperwork and excused himself, hoping he could at least hint that he was busy.

Of course, Yoon Jeonghan was a force to be reckoned with and when he wanted something, he would do anything and everything. Jihoon wished, deep down, that the tenacity to get the answers he wanted was also present when they were actually working.

Jeonghan followed, walking beside Jihoon and keeping up with his pace despite being known to be a lazy ass by the entire broadcasting company. He didn’t offer to help Jihoon with the flooding paperwork though, so Jihoon still considered him as normal as Yoon Jeonghan could be.

“You gave him the entire bag,” Jeonghan said, not one breathe out of place even when brisk walking, “there must have been a whole chocolate bar’s worth left in there. Or two. Or five.”

Jihoon turned a corner to a hall full of conference rooms. He checked and looked through the glass in search of an empty one. “Everyone else got their share. He was the only one left and I didn’t count before I gave the stuff away.”

Jeonghan shrugged and continued to follow Jihoon. When Jihoon found an empty conference room, he struggled to open it with his arms full of the stacks of folders and papers. He reached for the doorknob, carefully trying to twist it without toppling the papers. Of course he didn’t expect Jeonghan to help when he was suffering right in front of him. But Jihoon sighed deeply in frustration and turned a bit to silently ask Jeonghan to open the door.

Just as he expected, Jeonghan was watching him, amused and snickering at his demise. Jihoon turned and gave him a suffering and incredulous look but Jeonghan moved, twisting the doorknob and only slightly pushing the door ajar. Which was more than what Jihoon had asked so he should probably be at least thankful. (Though he was still pissed).

Jihoon pushed the door open using his elbow. Jeonghan followed, suddenly turning the lights on and surprising Jihoon’s eyes that quickly adjusted to the dark. “The _fuck_ , hyung!”

Jeonghan shrugged and left the door of the conference room open. Jihoon placed the stack of folders and papers on the desk in the middle of the room before throwing another dark glare. Jeonghan was unfazed, being one of the only few people who actually weren’t scared of Jihoon.

“Don’t _you_ have reports to do?” Jihoon said, heavily hinting that Jeonghan should leave. He pinched and massaged the bridge of his nose. He felt the beginning of a migraine which was bad because he still had a ton of paperwork left to do. Jeonghan stood in front of him with his arms crossed, a raised eyebrow, and an annoyingly smug smirk.

“Finished them last night.” Jihoon narrowed his eyes, doubtful and cynical at the statement but decided that the headache he already had was not worth worsening so he sat onto a chair and spread out his own paperwork.

“Then go bother Seungcheol, if you’re so free.”

“Cheol’s busy looking for chocolates for me.” Jihoon’s pen froze mid-air, before it even touched his paper. He gave Jeonghan another incredulous look, as if _he_ grew a second head. “He’s been panicking since last night.”

“You know what,” Jihoon said after a moment of a mental breakdown and opening and closing his mouth like a fish, “I really don’t wanna know.”

“You sure?” Jeonghan teased with waggling eyebrows.

Jihoon’s face morphed into disgust but chose not to dignify with an answer. He was too busy trying not to stab Jeonghan or himself with his pen. His grip was tight that his knuckles were nearly white but he needed to remind himself that they have a recording soon and it would not do to put their main writer in the hospital for a stab wound.

He studiously ignored Jeonghan with his elbows on top of the wide table and a smug smile on his face. He scribbled and concentrated on his paperwork, checking their monthly budget for props, locations, salaries, and talent fees. Jihoon was sure he would be able to finish on time until there were thundering footsteps rushing through the hall.

It echoed loudly inside the conference room. If it was that loud in their room, being the farthest end of the hall, then it surely disturbed the ones who were in a meeting.

After numerous thuds, Jihoon was on the verge of standing and giving the person a piece of his mind when ironically, it was Jeonghan who ran out of patience.

Jeonghan yanked the door open with a dark glare and an open mouth, fully ready to scold and yell at the disturbance when Jihoon distinctly heard a screeching halt and another thud only to see Soonyoung falling on his butt. His arms were wrapped protectively around something on his chest. It was a pretty big package, filled and almost bursting even from where Jihoon was sitting.

True to Jeonghan fashion, he kept the door open and his shoulders were shaking as he tried to keep his laughter in. He didn’t bother offering a hand to help Soonyoung up. He leaned heavily on the door with his back turned but he failed at keeping his laughter in. Jeonghan bursted out, cackling for all he was worth, tears springing up his eyes.

Soonyoung, with flushed cheeks, stood and scratched the back of his head. His cheeks puffed and his eyes curved into slits. He was chuckling along, embarrassed but willing to laugh at himself anyway.

It took a while, but when Jeonghan sobered up and wiped the tears at the corner of his eyes, he pushed Soonyoung inside and slapped his back hard enough to make Soonyoung stumble again. Jihoon stared though more at Jeonghan who was behind Soonyoung rather than the darkening blush on Soonyoung’s face or at the large package held carefully on his chest.

He didn’t mean anything by it. He would say so on his death bed even if he was tortured, he will say that he didn’t mean anything by it. But the pounding in his ears were too loud that he didn’t realize that the words were out of his mouth until the blush on Soonyoung’s face darkened even more to an almost impossible shade of red.

“That’s a lot of chocolates for White Day,” Jihoon said, and his brain screeched into a halt at his own tone, “I guess it isn’t surprising since you probably got that much gifts for Valentine’s day from your company alone, huh.”

Jeonghan’s face morphed into a cross of disbelief and pity, a face Jihoon was starting to be begrudgingly familiar with. Soonyoung wasn’t looking at him either, but he pulled the package closer to him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening his eyes, a look of determination Jihoon only witnessed during shoots and performances.

Jihoon suppressed a shiver, biting the inside of his cheek, and forced down a blush. Soonyoung’s smile was wide and caring and embarrassed and _loving_ that Jihoon couldn’t almost take it.

“It took a bit of time,” Soonyoung said, finally releasing the tension in his limbs and carefully placing the package on the conference table, “but I wanted you to have this.”

Jihoon was distracted more so at Soonyoung’s injured hands than the package that was set on the table. He stood quickly, the chair rolling to the wall with a loud bump. He grabbed at Soonyoung’s hand and inspected it.

“PD-nim?” Soonyoung spluttered, shocked at the sudden hand holding but Jihoon narrowed his eyes to inspect it. He raised it to eye-level, turned it around, pulled it closer that Soonyoung was nearly sprawled on the table with his other hand keeping him balanced. It was covered in bandages too. Jihoon walked around the table, completely forgetting the gift given to him.

“What did you _do_ , you _idiot_?” Jihoon hissed, holding Soonyoung’s hands tighter. “An idol should _never_ get injuries or blemishes if they could help it! And yet here you are, your hands covered in cuts and burns because of _what_?”

“I made you White Day chocolate.”

Jihoon stared, eyes widening and letting go of Soonyoung’s hands. Jeonghan whistled from behind, loud and high pitched but ignored. Soonyoung’s face didn’t change. It was straight and serious as if he was reading the day’s breaking news. Jihoon blinked, glancing at the chocolates on the table.

The package was haphazardly fixed although it might have been because Soonyoung was holding it too tightly and too closely against his chest. It was a simple clear cellophane packaging with a basket inside. Upon closer look, the chocolates were of all shapes and sizes. Some looked like they were pure cocoa and simply remolded. Some others were chocolate chip cookies and bits and pieces of what looked like (and what Jihoon hoped were) double fudge chocolate brownies.

It was too much for some leftover chocolates.

Soonyoung shrugged and Jihoon realized he said it out loud. A blush rushed up Jihoon’s cheeks as his head moved from Soonyoung to the basket back to Soonyoung again. It wasn’t until he felt hands cupping his cheeks that he stopped and suddenly felt dizzy.

“The chocolates meant a lot even if they were leftovers,” Soonyoung said, his thumbs gently caressing Jihoon’s warm cheeks, “even if it didn’t mean anything. I just wanted you to know how much it meant to _me_.”

Jihoon darted his eyes away, looking back at the haphazard package on the edge of the conference table. It was pretty filled considering its content and size. At the corner of his eyes, he saw Soonyoung give another shrug. “And my comeback won’t be for another few months. It’s a full album! My hands will heal by then, I’m sure.”

Soonyoung took a step closer until their chests were practically touching. Jihoon took a chance, instinctively glancing up at him. He wore a big, bright smile that could challenge the sun. To see it that close was almost blinding.

Soonyoung leaned closer as Jihoon pulled his head back. Jihoon’s eyes were crossed comically. “But it really does feel good when you worry about me, Jihoonie PD-nim.”

With a quick peck on Jihoon’s lips that came with a resounding smack, Soonyoung bounced off with a ridiculous high pitched laughter that echoed even at the end of the hallway. Jihoon slapped a hand onto his mouth and his cheeks darkened even more. Jeonghan (who Jihoon regretted forgetting for a moment) bent over with laughter. It was hearty and loud and very amused. The sound and tone told Jihoon it would reach the ears of his crew by their next recording episode. He glared at Jeonghan, but it was ineffective (because Jeonghan was too busy laughing to look at him and also, it was Jeonghan. Almost nothing scared him).

Jeonghan sighed after a few minutes, a hand on his chest to slow down his heartbeat and to catch up on his breathing. He gulped and gasped but he was still smiling widely. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

“Best White Day yet, huh.”

Jihoon turned, chin tucked to his chest, hiding his flushed face. He pulled his chair back to the conference table and spread out his reports. He reached for the discarded pen and he was putting a lot of effort into ignoring Jeonghan _and_ the gift.

It wasn’t a question, so Jihoon decided he wouldn’t dignify that with an answer either.


	13. jihoonie pd-nim vs the brotherly bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My little Chan, my junior in university who just graduated. My friend, my bro, my son, my child! I never thought I’d see you again just by walking down the street!”
> 
> “I never thought you’d pull me into a broadcasting building just because you wanted to see me dance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, hello, surprise! this chapter was earlier than i intended. it was a surprise for me too. hahaha. but i guess this is a way to celebrate jihoonie pdnim as being my **_highest fic_** out of all my fics here in ao3. also i realized so many really like this fic and for that, i'm so eternally grateful. ♥♥♥♥
> 
> anyway, 3 important announcements:  
> 1) hi, hello to all the new friends/mutuals i've made on twitter btw haha. special shout out to pam. ilysm. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
> 
> 2) do you wanna make some oc (original characters) for this verse? they could be idols/celebrities or part of jihoonie pdnim's crew or part of hoshi-goon's entourage. if you do, feel free to DM or @ me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/shinybicho) or drop an ask on [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/shinybicho). i'll definitely credit everyone who offers (but if you stay anon, it'll just be anon tho). it'll be easier for me to track this way; and,
> 
> 3) as my [twitter](https://twitter.com/shinybicho) is starting to be more fandom focused, go ahead and @ me in anything. i'd love to see your reactions. (/////////////////);;;;;;
> 
> tl;dr sorry enjoy! because ch14 and 15 are gonna be a TRIP and ch16 is THE FIRST ANGST chapter in a while. hehehehe. ♥

“ _Hyung_! Get off _of me_!”

“But my cute little Channie!” Jihoon paused, the familiar ring of a voice echoing outside one of the studio rooms in the broadcasting building.

He had only wanted to see if the particular staff recording a show in that particular room had any extra props they could use. Maybe he should have _known_ he was going to run into Kwon Soonyoung. It was just his luck.

“My little Chan, my junior in university who just graduated. My friend, my bro, my son, my child! I never thought I’d see you again just by walking down the street!”

“I never thought you’d pull me into a broadcasting building just because you wanted to see me dance.”

Jihoon walked inside as casually as he could, pretending to still be more interested with the props the crew and producer could lend. He ignored the two hugging it out in the middle of the room but somehow consciously aware that Kwon Soonyoung was _hugging someone_.

“Well, can you blame me,” Soonyoung said, letting the other go while keeping him at arm’s length, “we haven’t seen each other since forever!”

The other guy, Chan, Jihoon thought his name was, rolled his eyes. Even though Jihoon was trying to hold a conversation with the show’s producer explaining why he was requesting some props they could use, he noticed almost every single movement. (If Jeonghan was there to ask, Jihoon would definitely say it was an occupational hazard, having to be too aware of the celebrities inside the studio.)

“You were literally at my graduation,” Chan said with a deep sigh which Jihoon could definitely understand, “you cheered louder than my own parents.”

Soonyoung looked affronted (not that Jihoon was looking). His hand on his chest as if he was shot or as if his heart broke but that was just like Soonyoung. Everything he felt was shown precariously on his face and it was almost too easy to read him. Supposedly, in Jihoon’s opinion, but Soonyoung always managed to surprise people.

Jihoon forced himself to listen to the producer he was talking to, explaining where the prop held out to him was from and where to return it, except Jihoon’s thoughts were on Soonyoung that he missed more than half of it.

“Sorry,” Jihoon said, raising a hand to make the other producer pause, “I missed that last bit. Where do I return this?”

“We don’t really need it anymore,” the producer answered, not particularly bothered that he had to repeat it, “so it’d be great if you signed for it in the props department. You know how they can be.”

The props and costume department was huge. They rarely threw out any props because they were sure that it would be used again. It was different from other broadcasting studios in a way but Jihoon never questioned it. They tended to demand and note to which show every prop or costume was going to be and there was a really bothersome process. It just so happened that the prop Jihoon needed was still noted to be with the producer he was talking to.

“Just sign it off for me after you’re done, if you can,” the producer said with a final tone but also with a smile. Jihoon nodded and whispered a small thanks with a small bow, a simple inclination of his head.

“I’m gonna go ahead. Just need to see some cuts. But Hoshi-goon’s free for the day and so’s the studio so we allowed him to use it with his underclassman.”

Jihoon scrunched his eyebrows and opened his mouth, but the other producer cut him off before he could make a sound. “You looked like you wanted to know.”

The producer shrugged, took a step back to make his way to the editing rooms and waved. “See ‘ya, Jihoonie PD-nim!”

Jihoon panicked at the sudden shout. He wanted to just leave as unnoticed as he entered, without being seen by Soonyoung but the plan was now futile with the other producer’s goodbye. He flushed as heads turned to him. Two particular ones he saw from his peripherals.

“JIHOONIE PD-NIM!” Soonyoung yelled at the top of his lungs as if they weren’t in a closed studio. Jihoon flushed at the sudden attention. The crew from the show were almost finished packing up but there were some whispers and giggles here and there.

Jihoon turned sharply, clutching the prop tightly onto his chest as he rushed to the door. But Soonyoung was fast so he reached Jihoon before Jihoon reached the door. (Jihoon cursed stupid idol endurance.)

The smile that greeted him was wide and bright, as expected more of Kwon Soonyoung than of an idol. Jihoon turned his head, hiding his own face as it suddenly seemed too bright inside the studio.

“PD-nim,” Soonyoung sing-songed, bending down and shoving his face close to Jihoon’s until their noses were practically touching, “what’re you doing here?”

Jihoon took a quick glance. Just his eyes moving to take a look before he averted them just as quickly. The flush was darkening on his cheeks because Soonyoung was _too fucking close_ again and--

“Hyung,” Soonyoung was pulled away from Jihoon, surprising the both of them at the sudden distance, “you’re disturbing him.”

It took a moment for Jihoon to realize what that had meant. Soonyoung was pouting like a child that got their candy taken away. He tried to reach for Jihoon but apparently Chan was pretty strong and firm in his hold. When Jihoon and Soonyoung turned to him, Chan was wearing a frown, fully expecting and hoping Soonyoung to obey.

Miraculously, it worked as Soonyoung stopped reaching for Jihoon and opted to stand straight. Jihoon blinked, confused and surprised. Soonyoung sighed but shocked them all when he wrapped his arms around Chan’s neck and twirled him.

“My cute little Chan!” Soonyoung squealed as they twirled like a spinning top. Chan’s arm was tapping Soonyoung’s back before he wrenched himself away within Soonyoung’s embrace, face red to the tips of his ears.

“Hyung, we’ve talked about personal space,” Chan said, holding Soonyoung away by keeping a steady hand between them, “you haven’t changed at all, have you? Suddenly grabbing people and hugging them.”

It was Soonyoung’s turn to look embarrassed but he chuckled. “I get carried away.”

Chan turned sharply to Jihoon, who for a moment forgot that he could have just left. Chan’s eyes were narrowed and Jihoon felt thoroughly scrutinized. He stood his ground though, because there were _some_ basis why Jihoon was considered one of the most ruthless producers in the industry. His reputation rested on not flinching.

“I have to apologize,” Chan said, bowing a full ninety degrees in front of Jihoon, “Soonyoung-hyung’s been a lot of trouble to you.”

“I-- no, well,” Jihoon stuttered uncharacteristically as he felt flustered at Chan’s sudden words and bowing, “it’s good for variety.”

Chan straightened, blinking with wide eyes but Jihoon still felt scrutinized. Soonyoung watched their exchange, jumping when Chan turned to _him_ with narrowed eyes. Chan grabbed Jihoon by the shoulders, turning him around as they made their way near the door.

“Hyung, stay! Start stretching!” Chan yelled before Soonyoung could take another step. Jihoon wanted to protest at being manhandled (Jeonghan would have _died_ , had he seen this) but before he knew it, Chan took him outside the studio.

“Lee Jihoon PD-nim, right?”

Jihoon’s eyes widened in shock again. Chan shrugged. “Hyung talks about you a lot.” Music began playing inside the studio, muffled but still considerably loud.

“Mostly good things. And gushing. There’s a lot of gushing. It’s really not a secret that hyung’s in love with you. Especially to us.” Chan said in a tone that made it sound like they were having simple small talk.

Jihoon didn’t know what to say. They weren’t even formally introduced.

Chan held a hand out, with another one supporting it as a sign of respect, bowing a bit. “My name is Lee Chan. I’m Soonyoung hyung’s junior in university. I majored in dancing so we saw each other often.”

“Lee Jihoon, producer.” Jihoon bowed and shook Chan’s hand with the same amount of respect.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, PD-nim. Hyung talks about you a lot.”

“You didn’t push me out here to talk about Soonyoung, did you?” Jihoon said, as he began to feel a bit wary. He didn’t really expect Soonyoung to do something like introduce Chan so that Jihoon could give him a big break in the industry, but there was an annoying voice…

“Actually,” Chan said, scratching his cheek with one finger and averting his eyes, “I wanted to apologize on behalf of Soonyoung-hyung. I… I’m pretty sure he’s been touching and kissing you without your consent. He gets really touchy-feely when he’s high on his emotions and he forgets the meaning of boundaries.”

Jihoon was stunned silent again. When the flashbacks started, he felt the blood quickly rushing to his cheeks. It was so quick that he felt lightheaded. He stared at Chan whereas Chan was avoiding his gaze.

“It’s… not right, but I hope you can put it aside this time and just shove him the next time he does something without your consent. Most of us really don’t mind it but he does back off when we tell him to.”

“I actually don’t mind it.”

Chan and Jihoon stared at each other.

“Did I,” Jihoon began because he needed to know, “did _I_ say that?”

Chan’s face morphed into an eerily familiar face Jihoon didn't think he’d see from someone else other than Jeonghan. Chan nodded with a bright smile, “Yep.”

Jihoon’s face darkened and he glared, pulling everything within him all the reasons why people were scared of him. It seemed ineffective on Chan. “Not. One. Word.”

Chan shrugged. “About what? That you don’t mind kisses and hugs from Soonyoung-hyung? Of _course_ not.”

Jihoon stalked closer to Chan, nearly grabbing him by the collar when the music blared loudly. The door was opened and Soonyoung poked his head out through the gap.

“C’mon, Chan-ah,” Soonyoung said, face flushed with exertion and sweat dripping from his temples already, “Jihoonie PD-nim, wanna watch?”

“I… I’ve got a show to plan for so I’m going ahead. Sorry, thanks, bye!” Jihoon said, flustered and nervous, his brain not functioning properly. He blamed the lack of brain-to-mouth filter on listening to Mingyu so much _and_ at the mental image of seeing Soonyoung dance again.

Vaguely, he heard the echoes of Chan’s and Soonyoung’s voices, barely registering in his brain the meanings of what they said.

“I wanted to show him my new choreography.”

“Don’t worry, hyung. I’m sure you’ll get to show him your _moves_ sooner than you think.”


	14. jihoonie pd-nim vs the feeling that must not be named

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “God, would people just _please_ stop gossiping?” Jihoon was close to begging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took a little too long to make. i haven't written soonhoon in a while and there were problems with characterization. i had to scrap out the first version and re-write this chapter from scratch. luckily, i was able to write a satisfactory chapter.
> 
> now if you remember [this tweet](https://twitter.com/shinybicho/status/996354124970000384), i made a poll asking if i should post each chapter as i'm done writing them or if you're willing to wait until i finish chapters 16 or 17 before posting them. the winner was the latter, and as promised, you will now have 1 chapter a week! starting from chapter 14 up until chapter 17. as i'm posting chapter 14 today, chapter 17 will be the day after ideal cut manila. hehehe.
> 
> although to be honest, i'm only _almost_ done writing chapter 16, but i have begun writing chapter 17 so don't worry! i'll do my best to update on time!
> 
> last but not the least, a very special shout out to PD-nim's Crew. if it weren't for them, the following chapters might not have made it hahaha.
> 
> (ps. i still have that pd-nim faq to upload. i'll do it soon! i didn't expect to get much questions from the Crew hahahah.)
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy!

“CUT!” Jihoon yelled. His tone was harsh and disapproving. It seemed like _nothing_ was going well during the shoot and that was something they didn’t have time to take care of. The production needed to be done soon and they could only do so much with extra footage.

“What the hell is up in PD-nim’s ass?” One of the crew whispered, thinking that it was silent enough but Jihoon was _fuming_. He was painfully sensitive to everything around him and that also meant the whispering.

“The easier question would be what isn’t,” Jeonghan answered, though he didn’t even _try_ to whisper. It was meant for Jihoon’s ears and it didn’t matter that they had celebrity guests present. “That would be Hoshi-goon’s--”

“Let’s start from the top and then we can have a ten minute break!” Jihoon cut off Jeonghan’s answer, the tips of his ears red though maybe more from anger and frustration than anything else.

Somehow, despite the smallest details being out of place, the next segment of filming went well. As well as they could be with the remaining time they had with the studio and the celebrity guests. Jihoon glared at the list of cuts they made, with the notes of what clips he deemed they could use and the other clips that they need to double check if they should be scrapped out. Everything was a mess. His scribbles were a mess. The shoot was a mess. His mind was a wasteland.

“PD-nim,” Seungcheol approached as Jihoon fisted strands of his hair in frustration, “what the hell?”

Jihoon glared, dark and threatening, but Seungcheol was immune. Instead, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He pinched the bridge of his nose, the coming headache less than welcome. Tension headaches were bad. Tension headaches with Seungcheol’s disapproving face was worse. (He always felt like he kicked a puppy.)

“Just--” Jihoon said once he got his breathing and thoughts under control, “check the footage. We probably filmed enough for an hour long episode. Thanks.”

With that, he massaged his forehead and walked away, letting the rest of his crew pack up. The guests left one by one, only sending him a bow and a ‘hwaiting!’ pose. He grimaced, thankful for the cheer but too exhausted and still pissed to do anything else.

He knew he was rude. Knowing that made him even more irritated. There was no excuse for being an asshole, but Jihoon had been feeling irritated and annoyed at almost every single little thing and he had no idea why.

Which was a complete lie because admitting it meant accepting something he wasn’t ready for.

Too bad Jeonghan was too sharp and just as annoyed at Jihoon’s attitude.

“We get that you’re this ‘ruthless producer’ in the variety show gig,” Jeonghan said, standing right in front of where Jihoon had sat so that he could maybe calm his pounding headache, “but that’s still no excuse to act like such an asshole to not only to your crew, but to the senior celebrities. Even our main MC was worried.”

Jihoon’s face twitched, remembering the face their MC made when he snapped at them. He sighed deeply, thinking of some gift or other so that he could make up for his recent attitude.

“So what’s got your panties in a twist?” Jihoon grimaced again at Jeonghan’s straightforwardness. It was good from time to time, though he probably just didn’t appreciate his choice of words. It seemed inappropriate for the gravity of his irritation. “You’ve been like this since you went and borrowed some props from that other show.”

Jihoon didn’t want to talk about it. Because talking about it would be admitting it somehow and Jihoon didn’t think he was ready for that yet. He didn’t even know what _it_ was.

“Was Hoshi-goon there?” Jeonghan asked, sitting right next to Jihoon. Jihoon’s hand twitched as he bit the inside of his bottom lip. He avoided being too obvious but it seemed a little too late. “You only get this pissed whenever it involves Hoshi-goon. Or when some big shot wannabe attacks one of our crew members but today, that was just you.”

Jihoon stayed silent as Seungcheol checked the packed equipment. Mingyu was closer to them, checking if there were some refreshments left on the table to see if they could still be used for the next shoot or not. Although Seungcheol was focused on counting and checking the equipment, Jihoon knew Seungcheol was aware of where he and Jeonghan were. Just as he knew that it was the same for Mingyu except he kept on glancing their way.

“ _Mingyu-ah_ ,” he called out, exhausted but steeled for the lecture coming his way, “just finish counting the food and say what you wanna say already.”

In a flash, Mingyu counted what was left on the table, wrote on his inventory notebook, slammed it shut, bowed to the rest of the crew packing up the food, and made his way to where Jihoon and Jeonghan were.

“PD-nim, I… heard that Hoshi-goon was with someone in the studio after the crew for the other show finished.” Mingyu said, fiddling with his fingers against the small notebook. “You’ve been in a bad mood ever since.”

“God, would people just _please_ stop gossiping?” Jihoon was close to begging.

“Hoshi-goon brought someone to the studio?” Jeonghan asked, and Jihoon thought he wasn’t asking for much but alas.

Mingyu’s eyes seemed to lighten up at the question, much to Jihoon’s confusion and dismay. “It was Hoshi-goon’s underclassman from university. I heard from the crew that stayed that they left together to a café nearby.”

“Were you _gossiping_ with the other crew?” Jihoon asked, glaring at Mingyu. Jeonghan raised a brow and whistled. He turned to Jihoon while Jihoon refused to back down. Raising a brow of his own, Jihoon challenged Jeonghan’s mischievous glint.

“Argh,” Jihoon grunted as he lost against the mischievous grin that came after the glint, “it’s like that Lee Chan’s your son.”

“Lee Chan?” Jeonghan, and Seungcheol asked at the same time when Seungcheol appeared behind and beside Mingyu. Jihoon turned his raised brow to Mingyu. To his credit, Mingyu blinked once then twice.

Sighing deeply once again, Jihoon rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, the weight of the stares of Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Mingyu upon him. “Lee Chan’s Hoshi-goon’s junior in university. They bumped into each other and the producer allowed them to use the studio when they were done filming.”

Jihoon didn’t need to open his eyes but he was sure the three faces were filled with realization. Except Jeonghan’s realization went beyond that.

“So what,” Jeonghan said, nudging his shoulder at Jihoon’s, annoying Jihoon in a different way, enough to make Jihoon look at him again, “you were _jealous_?”

Seungcheol and Mingyu glanced at Jeonghan then to Jihoon, then back to Jeonghan before they decided to stare at Jihoon. Jihoon, on the other hand, was blank. It was like his brain was thinking and not thinking at all. It was a red alert and the _Blue Screen Of Death_ at the same time.

“ _What_?” Jihoon croaked, eyes not seeing anything and brain not processing anything.

“Oh my god,” Jeonghan whispered, catching Seungcheol’s eyes for a moment, “you were.”

And suddenly Jihoon’s eyes focused. His face scrunched in complete confusion, the feeling of imbalance still present. He repeated, “what?”

Jeonghan stood, face excited like a kid who got their favorite toy for Christmas. He pointed at Jihoon, covered his mouth, and a chuckle passed through him. “You fucking were!”

“ _What_?” Jihoon asked again, irritation welling up in his chest. Not fully understanding but somewhere deep, _deep_ in his mind, there was a small hint of fear. “What are you talking about?”

Seungcheol and Mingyu followed the exchange. Seungcheol only following a bit while Mingyu barely followed. Jeonghan was laughing, deep chuckles from his belly as if Santa Claus came.

“You absolutely fucking were, Jihoonie PD-nim.”

“I was _what_?” Jihoon’s voice was starting to get louder and more irritated, his face turning pink from frustration. Luckily, Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Mingyu were used to his temper. “I was ‘abso-fucking-lutely’ _what_?”

“Jealous, PDim,” Mingyu said curtly, “you were jealous.”

Then it dawned on Jihoon. His actions for the past week, his bad temper and his horrible treatment towards his crew. The irritation welling up in his chest every time he remembered Chan’s knowing smirk and Hoshi-goon’s smiling face. The sinking feeling in his stomach whenever Hoshi-goon wrapped his arm around Chan’s shoulders, and whenever Hoshi-goon practically wrapped himself around Chan, climbing him like a koala on a tree. The need to punch something itching his fist whenever he heard Hoshi-goon giggling even when they passed each other by because he remembered Hoshi-goon laughing and snuggling and hugging the life out of Lee Chan, his favorite junior when he was in university.

Now that the word was spoken out loud, it was both lighter and heavier for different reasons. For one thing, he finally knew why he was so irritated all the time. For another thing, learning that he was jealous meant that--

Jihoon shook his head because _no_! They were not going there. Not now, not soon, not _ever_.

“Fuck, no _wonder_ you were such an asshole,” Jeonghan said, combing his hair back with one hand, “you were jealous because it was the first time Hoshi-goon gave his attention to someone else other than _you_.”

Jihoon stood, back straight and rigid. He walked briskly, eyes looking around to check that everything was in order and he didn’t need to do anything else. If he stayed any longer, he knew he was going to have to acknowledge _that_ and he just knew he wasn’t ready for any of it. So he walked, pretending that he needed to be busy, but Jeonghan saw through his bullshit.

“You’re gonna have to face it sooner or later, Jihoonie PD-nim.” Jeonghan called out as Jihoon held the knob of the exit door. “It’s gonna be a lot worse for you if you don’t and we really hope it would never come to that.”


	15. jihoonie pd-nim vs the missing guest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Before you get pissed and accuse me of ‘stealing’,” Seungcheol said, practically shoving the phone under Jihoon’s nose, “you left it on the props table _again_. Everyone else kept pointing at it until one of them finally gave it to me to give it to you. Now be a fucking man and _make that phone call_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok 2/4 chapters posted! i'm pretty much done with ch16, and it's more or less ready for posting next week (sep23). i've begun writing ch17 so i'm sure i can finish it by sep30. **reminder** that after ch17, posting will be irregular again. i hope you can continue waiting patiently. there are more soonhoon fics popping up on ao3 and twitter so yay!
> 
> ps. once this fic reaches [500 kudos](https://twitter.com/shinybicho/status/1004302688043986944), i'm going to take 5 aus within the verse. if i receive more than 5, i'll hold a poll at [my fanfic twitter](https://twitter.com/haengbokhaeya). if i receive EXACTLY 5 or less, i'll write them all. please wait for final guidelines that i'll be posting on both my accounts.
> 
> i still have over 25+ faq's to answer. it's taking longer than it should because of the drabble/snippets hahahaha.
> 
> pps! hmu if you're going to Ideal Cut MNL. brownies are only until when supplies last hahaha.

Jihoon swallowed down his panic. It wouldn’t solve their problem even if he did. So he forced it down and racked his brain for a solution because it’s his _job_. This should be normal. This _was_ normal. It happened often enough. It was why they had pre-production meetings. They have a list of celebrities they could invite for times like these.

But _who_ could he call? Majority of the celebrities he had contact information of were booked until the next few months. They had been planning this episode for weeks in between other episodes and they all thought it was fool proof. The celebrities they booked made sure that their schedules were cleared for this one recording episode. Until their required celebrity couldn’t arrive due to… reasons apparently.

Postponement of taping wasn’t really an issue, but it was definitely a last resort. The celebrity guests could be difficult to book again if they wouldn’t be able to film on the day. Everyone’s schedules would be disrupted and it was just completely inconvenient. There were contingency plans for these but as the day of the recording came, it seemed that their reserve celebrities booked other schedules.

Jihoon didn’t think it would have been a problem. The celebrity they booked assured them that they would be able to make it. But for some reason or the other, the celebrity cancelled. He sounded like he was in tears, scared and begged to cancel his appearance.

Maybe Jihoon should just have thanked the fact that they didn’t announce his presence in the media. That meant they could get away with changing the special guests for their shoot. It was just that Jihoon wasn’t so sure if he should push his luck by contacting another celebrity.

“PD-nim,” Seungcheol called, snapping Jihoon out from his minor, internal panic, “we have thirty minutes before game time and no, your panicking was not at all internal.”

Jihoon clicked his tongue. “Do _you_ have any ideas?” Quite frankly, he was out of all of them. They couldn’t postpone, they couldn’t delay, they couldn’t force the celebrity, they also couldn’t cancel.

Seungcheol raised a phone, waving it at Jihoon. Upon closer look, it was _Jihoon’s_ phone. JIhoon felt his pockets, checking if it was his phone while Seungcheol held it out for him, unlocked and opened to a contact number.

Unfortunately, it was indeed Jihoon’s phone.

“Before you get pissed and accuse me of ‘stealing’,” Seungcheol said, practically shoving the phone under Jihoon’s nose, “you left it on the props table _again_. Everyone else kept pointing at it until one of them finally gave it to me to give it to you. Now be a fucking man and _make that phone call_.”

Jihoon took the phone, the display brightness lowering from idleness. It didn’t take him two minutes before he realized to which number was shown. Shaking his head vehemently, he closed the contact to return to his home screen. “ _No_ way!”

Seungcheol sighed. “PD-nim, we’re wasting our time. I’m pretty sure he has another schedule close here. I know the director of photography for that show and he said that they wouldn’t be starting until later tonight. That’s as close to a confirmation that he’s free as we can get.”

“Why don’t _you_ call him, then?” Jihoon glared at him, pressing the power button lightly before shoving his phone into his pocket.

Seungcheol shrugged and turned around. “I’m busier than you, PD-nim.”

Jihoon opened his mouth to complain, wanting to yell that there was no way Seungcheol was busy that moment but Seungcheol waved at him without even looking back. “ _Call_ him, PD-nim!”

Glaring down at the blank screen of his phone, Jihoon clutched the edges tighter. He didn’t want to. He honestly didn’t really want to, especially what happened some time ago.

But he wasn’t jealous. Nope, he wasn’t because what would he be jealous of? It wasn’t like they were--

He shook his head aggressively, hoping to clear out that train of thought. His phone lit up, vibrating loudly against his palm, surprising him. It was a message from Seungcheol. (Thank goodness.)

_CALL him, Lee Jihoon. We’re out of time. Geez!!!_

Jihoon checked the digital clock displayed on his screen. As much as he loathed the idea, Seungcheol was right. They were running out of time and they couldn’t go without having one more celebrity guest for the episode recording. His fingers worked, unlocking his screen and quickly finding the ‘call’ button. His thumb hovered over it, still contemplating at the last minute if it was a good idea or not.

He walked, absentmindedly toward the doors. He was so close to convincing himself to call, getting ready to leave the studio for some semblance of privacy. His hand _just_ touched the door to push when his phone rang again.

In his panic, he pressed the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

“Jihoonie PD-nim?” It was a careful tone of voice. It was both comforting yet nerve wracking to hear. And no matter how much he tried to distract his mind, Jihoon knew right away who it was. Even before he accidentally pushed the door in front of him in surprise.

“Woah!” The voice said through his phone and right in front of him.

There stood Kwon Soonyoung, wearing a padded coat that swallowed his form, a large beanie that slipped down his forehead, and gloves that were probably thick and soft enough to use as a pillow. A mask covered half of his face, and only a few strands of his fringe peaked from the beanie. His eye bags looked dark and heavy and his voice sounded a little hoarser face to face.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, pulling his mask down and removing his beanie to show his messy bed hair. “I didn’t think I’d have made it with the traffic. I called Cheol-hyung though. At least my flight arrived earlier than expected.”

Jihoon blinked, his phone still stuck to his ear even though the call had ended. He was still processing the things Soonyoung had said. Traffic? Call? _Flight_?

But before he could voice his confusion out loud, Soonyoung had pushed his way inside. He slapped his cheeks with both hands, with his gloves now in his padded coat pocket. In that one second, Kwon Soonyoung had disappeared and Hoshi-goon had arrived. His eye bags were still dark and heavy, obviously strained and exhausted, but the aura had changed. Hoshi-goon was brighter, friendlier, and more energetic. It was as if the fatigue was gone in an instant. There was only sparkles and light so bright, Jihoon couldn’t even look at him.

“Have you started? Can I just run over and do makeup for five minutes? Maybe get my hair to cooperate? Do I have to change my clothes? Are we staying in the studio?” Hoshi asked as he walked further inside, removing his padded coat. When no one answered nor looked at him, he turned around and cocked his head. “PD-nim? PD-niiiiim? Jihoonie PD-nim!”

Jihoon snapped back to reality, finally lowering his phone and tucking it in his pants pocket. “How did you--” he tried to ask, looking for his voice.

Hoshi straightened and stared. He shrugged, though Jihoon could see the fatigue and exhaustion on his face. It was as if Hoshi was standing through sheer will power alone and as if one single blow of air could knock him down. Damn it, Jihoon needed to get him a chair.

“Seungcheol-hyung called about fifteen? Thirty? Well, some minutes ago,” Hoshi answered, sounding a bit out of it even as he was walking slowly to the makeup booth while another crew member rushed to check clothes that could fit him last minute. “He told me that you needed another guest. Luckily, we just came from Incheon. Haven’t left parking yet. I do have filming later tonight but I was able to persuade my manager after a few promises here and there. So then we went straight here.”

Hoshi stumbled onto the chair, the makeup artist and Jihoon reacting instantly and instinctively, raising both hands as if to prepare themselves to catch him. But Hoshi gripped the armrest of the makeup chair and sat properly, making himself comfortable. He closed his eyes as the makeup artist began her work, and another stylist started working on his hair.

“You came from Incheon?” Jihoon asked, stunned but slowly finding his voice again. “And you went _straight here_?”

Hoshi opened one eye to see if Jihoon was still there. He closed it again as soon as the makeup artist began working on his eyelids. “My manager probably parked the car already. Or maybe he went straight to the apartment. We have a _lot_ of laundry to do, to be honest.”

The makeup artist bit her lower lip, but a slight chuckle escaped her. Jihoon ignored it in favor of clarifying once again. “From _Incheon_? Straight _here_? _Where_ did you come from? _Why_ would you do this?” Jihoon’s voice rose, cracking from the panic. Was that why he looked _exhausted_?

Hoshi shrugged again, smiling with his eyes still closed. “Because you needed help.”

“PD-nim,” Seungcheol appeared on Hoshi’s other side as he held the clothes Hoshi-goon was to change into. The hairstylist and the makeup artist worked a miracle, and they were able to finish right away, stepping aside and whispering. “Hoshi-goon has ten minutes to change before we start. Do you mind asking Mihye to run and tell our other guests to prepare for standby?”

He wanted to complain. He wanted to say that Hoshi-goon was about a hand wave away from falling to the ground, that Hoshi-goon needed his rest. But Hoshi whispered a small thanks, grabbed the clothes from Seungcheol, and made his way to a dressing room.

Jihoon watched Hoshi disappear from view. There were so many things he wanted to ask. So many things he wanted to clarify. There were more questions than answers, as it always was with Hoshi-goon.

But _fuck_ if he wasn’t in love with Hoshi-goon.

Seungcheol snapped his fingers in front of Jihoon, pulling him back to reality. Blood rushed up his cheeks. His heart pounded loudly. He couldn’t concentrate. It was almost as if he blacked out from the way Seungcheol was looking at him, but he couldn’t say anything. Everything rushed back to him, from the very first episode Hoshi-goon had guested in the show and every moment he had with Hoshi-goon ever since.

He loved Hoshi-goon. In the same exact way Hoshi-goon had kept professing all these times. In the giddy, sparkly and heartbreaking, gut-wrenching ways in dramas.

The dressing room door opened. Hoshi-goon wore his clothing with a whole lot of poise. The long cardigan jacket was form fitting. It contrasted from his earlier attire with the padded jacket that swallowed him whole. The pants were tight and it was the first time Jihoon had noticed that Hoshi had cut his hair again.

Seungcheol called out to their runner and provided his earlier instructions, seemingly accepting that he wouldn’t be able to trust Jihoon in that matter as of the moment. Jihoon couldn’t care. Hoshi-goon was right in front of him, smiling at him as if he wasn’t exhausted down to the bone. As if he hadn’t flown probably halfway around the world just to be a _guest_ of this variety show. Fuck. What the flying fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_!

Lee Jihoon PD-nim, the most ruthless producer known to all the rookies (and even to some veterans), was in- _fucking_ -love with Hoshi-goon.

Jeonghan PD-nim was going to have a _field day_.


	16. jihoonie pd-nim vs the what's her face again person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe he should have gotten a clue after all the “Jihoonie PD-nim!!!!! **_DO NOT OPEN NAVER_**!!!!” messages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so who was ready for this post? not me. i certainly did not expect this to reach 3.2k words BUT the chapter just grew after MONTHS of getting stuck. SO I HOPE YOU REALLY ENJOY THIS CHAPTER because we're going to see some character development from jihoonie pdnim.
> 
> if you enjoyed this or got the Feels for this, let me know! feel free to mention/tag/dm/comment please! i'd like to know how i'm doing so far, after 1 year and 16 chapters.
> 
> and i haven't been able to reply to the comments i receive but THANK YOU. I AM ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR YOU ALL. FOR TAKING THE TIME TO COMMENT. OR SEND A KUDOS. OR RECOMMENDING TO A FRIEND (srsly... y'all...). I APPRECIATE EACH AND EVERY GESTURE, THEY ALL MAKE MY DAY. 8U8
> 
> ps. this is less angsty than i intended so i hope you didn't expect to cry today hahaha.
> 
> pps. 3/4 chapters posted. there's 1 more chapter, then it's back to your irregularly scheduled updates. hahaha.
> 
> ppps. SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CREW FOR BEING THE BEST SUPPORT BY GIVING ME THE REACTIONS I WAS AIMING FOR. lol y'all be meeting their characters here. expect to see more of them soon. hahaha

There was a clap on his shoulder that was meant to comfort him, but it could have been better. He really didn’t think things through when he received a message in their group chat to not go to the Internet for Naver or any newspaper stands. He shrugged it off as his crew goofing around, just another start of their day to pump themselves up.

Maybe he should have gotten a clue after all the “Jihoonie PD-nim!!!!! **_DO NOT OPEN NAVER_**!!!!” messages.

Of course, he was being a complete idiot and just… went.

In his defense, Naver was his home tab. He rarely checked the news himself despite being required to keep up with the trends as a producer but he just couldn’t be bothered to take note of what scandals and gossip people were up to.

A Dispatch image popped up and the face, though covered by a large beanie and sunglasses, were familiar. The girl beside the familiar face was not.

Jeonghan had warned him about this. That this day would eventually come and his ignorance and cluelessness would bite him back in the ass. And it was painful.

Of course it was painful.

Jihoon stared at the image for the rest of the day until he received a call from Seungcheol, asking him where he was. It was the first time he was so late for a preparation for a shoot.

The crew looked at him, maybe checking to see how he was taking it. It wasn’t pity, not exactly. They knew him well enough to know that he didn’t like those looks. But maybe what he was thankful for the most was that no one mentioned it. Not even Mingyu.

Well, granted that they all acted way, _way_ too careful around him.

When his crew looked at him _again_ as if he was a child that needed to be constantly watched, he snapped.

“Alright, come on, wardrobe and make up, do your jobs! Our guests are waiting, let’s not make them wait longer. Runner! Check that our props are complete. Bring Mingyu with you. Eunji, go with them. See if we need anything else for the production.” Jihoon turned around and walked to where Seungcheol and the other camera people were. He checked the open LCD for the angles.

“Nari-noona, check the final camera angles with Seungcheol. Jiwoo, checked it too so that you can take note of the scenes to edit later. Younghui, check on our guests please. Tell them to stand by in twenty minutes. If they don’t have their mics yet, get them from Eunji first.” Jihoon clapped his hands, gaining the attention from all of his crew members. “The rest of you know your jobs. Now let’s get to it!”

The crowds dispersed. Everyone went to varying directions. They had a show to do and dwelling on a _Dispatch_ image wasn’t going to make it happen. If Kwon Soonyoung had grown tired of chasing him, then that’s it. Jihoon was happy for him. He will be.

Luckily, production shoots ate up a lot of his time. Being the main producer of the show meant he had a huge responsibility and everyone would come to him for clarification, confirmation, and approval. There was no time to think of the Dispatch image. Jihoon was good at distracting himself too. That was a plus. But the day had to come to an end, and they finished their shooting with a cheerful goodbye to the guests and main MCs. They packed up and cleaned the set. It was still noisy, but it was filled with whispers.

Jihoon handed off the cards to Jiwoo, one of their video editors, together with a list of cuts and scenes from which camera. Seungcheol looked at him. Jihoon didn’t see it, but he knew that everyone had been looking at him the entire day. He also considered Seungcheol as one of his best friends. He didn’t need to open his eyes to know that Seungcheol was worried.

Not that they could really do anything about it. Jihoon was just stupid.

“Blind, was more like it.” Jeonghan said, appearing as Jihoon opened his eyes slightly. Jihoon silently braced himself for an attack. Something along the lines of ‘I told you so’. But it never came. Jeonghan shrugged and took a seat beside Jihoon. “But I guess it’s not your fault.”

It took a while before Jihoon found his voice again, hoping that no one would notice his voice breaking. “It’s not his either.”

Jeonghan grimaced, not nodding but also not denying it. Jihoon was thankful for it. During that time when Jihoon realized he was actually in love with Hoshi-goon, Jeonghan celebrated. There were some frustrated faces and agonizing silent screams, but it never passed Jihoon’s mind not to let Jeonghan, Seungcheol, and Mingyu know. (They looked at him like he was stupid, silently telling him ‘of _course_ you’re in love with him!’ without actually saying so. Jihoon didn’t know if he was thankful or embarrassed.)

“So?” Jeonghan began, turning directly at Jihoon. Jihoon looked back at him from the corner of his eye. Everyone had left. Seungcheol went with the rest of the crew to make sure that the equipment was safely stored until their next shoot. Mingyu went with him. It was just Jeonghan and Jihoon and Jihoon knew now that there was no escaping Yoon Jeonghan.

“So what?” Jihoon said anyway because that was the way things went and he wanted _some_ semblance of normalcy.

“What are you gonna do now?” Jeonghan said, hinting hard on the issue Jihoon had avoided thinking and talking about. But maybe it should be something he voiced out loud. Maybe then, he could be sure that he would move on. Despite only realizing his feelings for the past few weeks.

Jihoon shrugged, emulating Jeonghan’s face earlier. “There’s nothing _to_ do. I missed that window. He seemed happy in the picture too. I’m not going to go up and ruin that just because I realized my feelings late. Besides,” Jihoon sighed deeply, opening his eyes, staring afar but not exactly looking at anything, “he was bound to get tired someday.”

“Your timing’s a _bitch_ though,” Jeonghan said, slapping Jihoon’s shoulder lightly, playfully. It eased the atmosphere and Jihoon could breathe easier. The silence was comfortable too. It was enough. It healed the ache in his heart just a little bit, patched a few cracks that shouldn’t even be there since it took him _too fucking long_ to realize his feelings. Jeonghan was right when he said that his timing was a bitch. Had he realized maybe a few months after, he probably wouldn’t feel this much pain.

It was an annoying crick of pain. Like an itch that couldn’t be scratched. It held his lungs tightly, as if its claws gripped his air passageways. His stomach was heavy, like he swallowed an elephant or two. There was an empty feeling. A feeling that made him want to cry, but he knew better than to.

Jihoon leaned back, letting his head thump against the wall. It was cool from the air conditioning. It woke him enough to stop the pricking of the tears trying to crawl its way up his eyes. There was really no use in crying now. Not now that Kwon Soonyoung was _happy_.

He was happy, Jihoon thought, remembering the picture. It was badly taken, grainy and dark, Kwon Soonyoung was recognizable. Jihoon would _know_ that silhouette anywhere. (God, it was a wonder _how_ he never realized that he was _in love_ with this man.) The picture was of Kwon Soonyoung and the woman walking beside each other. Too far to consider hand-holding, but close enough to know that they have a special relationship.

The loving smile on Kwon Soonyoung’s face told Jihoon everything.

“Come on,” Jeonghan said, standing and dusting his pants, “let’s go meet up with Cheol and Mingyu. I think I can get Cheol to buy us some meat.” Jihoon chuckled weakly, not really feeling hungry, but he would never turn down meat when it’s free.

They find themselves in the meat shop where Jihoon and the crew ate before. The ahjumma was still kind, and the ambience was as cosy as ever. They took a seat a little bit further inside, a little bit farther from the door. It was only the four of them anyway.

Their orders were the same, only less in quantity. Jeonghan was trying to convince Seungcheol to pay for them while Mingyu was busy with his phone. Jihoon itched to take his phone too, but he knew it was out of habit more than anything. Instead, he opted to look at the restaurant. There were people there. It wasn’t as crowded so it wasn’t noisy, but there was a considerable amount of people despite it being an awkward time to eat such a heavy meal.

Not that Jihoon was complaining. The ahjumma deserved every customer and so much more.

“Ah~jumma!” There was a playful greeting in a sing-song voice. Jihoon didn’t have to turn around and look for the owner. He knew very well who it was.

Jeonghan was staring at the new arrival. Seungcheol was watching Jihoon. Mingyu was torn between the two, and probably unconsciously tried to make himself look smaller so that he wouldn’t be seen from the entrance.

“Ah!” The voice continued, delighted and excited, “Jihoonie PD-nim!”

Under the table, Jihoon curled his fists on his lap. He bit his lower lip, swallowing heavily. The pain from his nails biting into his palm grounded him, but he knew he couldn’t stay like that forever. He debated whether he should excuse himself. It was the most sensible thing to do. It would spare him the pain of the reality that Kwon Soonyoung had moved on and that Lee Jihoon was too late.

Except turning around now would still make Jihoon see Soonyoung. At least, if he stayed, someone would pull Soonyoung away and Jihoon would still get his meat.

“Oppa,” another voice followed behind and the cracks in Jihoon’s heart began to deepen, “I’m gonna go order ahead. I’m starving.”

Jihoon took the chance to turn around. She looked… wonderful. She was vibrant with bright eyes, pale skin, and long, wavy brown hair. She was shorter than Jihoon. A little slender but not petite. Smaller than Kim Chungha but not as thin. She seemed like the perfect person for _Kwon Soonyoung_ more than Hoshi-goon.

Soonyoung turned around again and smiled at her. “Sure. Make sure to order some extra. We need to bring them to Chan and the others.” Chan? Lee Chan? Jihoon thought. Someone from university, then.

“PD-nim!” Soonyoung greeted, bowing to the four of them, not noticing the tense atmosphere he brought, now surrounding their table. There was a warm foot next to his and a hand on top of his own, coaxing his fingers to relax. “I missed you!”

It was such an attack that no one was prepared for. They looked at Soonyoung, his clothes similar to the one in the picture early that morning. His coat was no longer around his shoulders, but a quick look and Jihoon saw it with the person he entered the restaurant with. The person called and the ahjumma came to take the order. It seemed like they were close too, because the ahjumma was scolding her. Her hand movements looked like she was scolding the other person for being too thin, for not eating a lot. The person was apologetic, laughing awkwardly, but the air around them was comfortable. As if they’ve known each other before.

As if Soonyoung brought her here before.

Jihoon wanted to kick Soonyoung so bad for making him feel so many things in just one sitting, with just a few sentences. He hated it. Now that he _knew_ what the feelings were, it was a thousand times worse. But he was an adult, god damn it. He knew not to make a scene, especially not in a place where there were a lot of people. Ahjumma didn’t deserve that.

“Hyung,” Jihoon said, as he tried to hide his cracking voice, “I’m gonna go ahead. I just remembered… Nari-noona and Jiwoo wanted me to check on… something.” It was a lie. A big, fat, blatant lie because Seungcheol would have known of that, and if anything, Nari, their video switcher, would have informed Seungcheol first. But Jihoon was starting to get desperate and it was the only excuse he could think of.

With full conviction, Jihoon resolutely avoided Soonyoung. He avoided looking at him, glancing at him, bumping into him, and even greeting him. It was rude, considering how much Hoshi-goon had helped them in the past, but seeing him was painful and Jihoon didn’t know how much more restraint he had before he snapped.

The sudden movement seemed to startled Soonyoung though, because suddenly he’s flustered. As if he wanted to run after Jihoon but knew he had to stay instead. Incomprehensible sounds escaped his mouth, his head moving back and forth from the table to Jihoon to the person still with the ahjumma. When Jihoon walked past that table after bowing slightly at the ahjumma, Soonyoung called out.

“Food! Chan! Hansol! Gotta follow!” Soonyoung grabbed his coat from the table and rushed after Jihoon.

“Yup! I’ll call Hansol-oppa to pick me up. See ‘ya t‘morrow!” Jihoon distinctly heard the other person’s voice faintly behind him.

He turned at a corner, briskly walking because he knew that the footsteps behind him were chasing him. Jihoon tried to rush so that he could cross the street before Hoshi-goon arrived next to him. Alas, his legs were stupidly short due to a lack of growth spurt and Hoshi-goon caught up to him just in time for the walking light to turn to red. Jihoon refused to look at him despite the firm grip around his wrist. He tugged at it, but Hoshi-goon didn’t seem to get the hint.

“PD-nim,” Hoshi-goon said, breathless, “why’d you leave?”

“You didn’t have to follow me, _Hoshi-goon_ ,” Jihoon replied, his voice flat and monotonous, “you could have stayed there and eaten with your date.” The stupid light was still stupidly red and his wrist was still in a stupidly strong grip. Jihoon was so close to kicking Hoshi’s shin for real.

“Date?”

“That woman you were with, Hoshi-goon,” Jihoon said instantly, wanting the conversation over and done with. He tried to keep his composure, tried not to think about the article that morning, tried not to remember all those times Hoshi-goon confessed to him and he rebuked it.

“Sofia?” Hoshi asked, and _god damn it_ even her name sounded beautiful. And _why_ wasn’t the light turning _green_?

“Whatever her name is, Hoshi-goon, I think you should go back to her. She might think you ditched her and won’t call you again.”

Hoshi snorted, as if he stopped his laughter midway. Jihoon curled his fists until his nails were digging deep enough his palm to leave marks. Was Hoshi-goon a _masochist_? Why the hell would he laugh at not being called back by a beautiful, foreign-looking woman?

The light _finally_ turned green and Jihoon raised his foot to take a step, but the grip around his wrist tightened, and he was pulled back. The momentum made him turn to face Hoshi, and Jihoon glared at him darkly. It wasn’t a particularly new look, and any dark look Jihoon seemed to send to Hoshi never really scared him. But still, glaring at Hoshi-goon was better than the alternative.

“ _What_?” Jihoon hissed.

“She’s Hansol’s sister,” Hoshi said, as if it answered all the questions Jihoon had. As if she wasn’t now subjected to slander and malicious comments online. As if what Hoshi said was a barrier, a shield against everyone. That it was them against the world.

Jihoon bit his bottom lip, inhaling deeply. The urge to cry rushed back to him, and the pricking stung his eyes. Maybe punching Hoshi-goon was the better option. He already had his hand curled to a fist and his wrist was _still_ held down by Hoshi-goon’s grip.

“Hansol’s sister then,” Jihoon said, hoping that his voice didn’t crack, “Sofia.”

“I mean,” Hoshi said, for the very first time, so _fucking oblivious_ to Lee Jihoon, “she’s basically _everyone_ ’s little sister at this point.” Jihoon bent his head, hid his face from Hoshi-goon’s view.

“She introduced me to someone she seemed to like this morning. We’re bringing Chan, Hansol, and Seungkwan some food because I don’t know how Hansol and Seungkwan’s going to take that. She seemed to _really_ like him.”

The feelings paused. Frozen. Cold that bothered Jihoon a little bit.

“Chan would probably be chill. Seungkwan’s a little dramatic, so he might slide down a door frame. Hansol’s gonna have a mental breakdown and he definitely won’t function for a while. Wonwoo wouldn’t react until the guy actually comes to the cafe. She took me because I was the easiest to introduce.” Hoshi chuckled, listing down names Jihoon was unfamiliar with, but the tone Hoshi had when he described each one of them was fond.

“Sorry,” Jihoon said, letting his voice crack this time, “ _what_?”

Hoshi blinked. “I said that I like the guy. Probably good for her but maybe they should start being friends first.”

“You’re not going out with her?”

“With who?” Hoshi asked, cocking his head to the side. It was at the edge of endearing, but Jihoon’s brain was busy processing something else.

“Sofia. Hansol’s sister, Sofia.”

“I told you she’s like a little sister to me, PD-nim.”

Jihoon shook his head to clear up the fog inside his mind. He raised his hands to hold his head between them for support, not noticing how easy it was for Hoshi’s grip to loosen. “You’re not dating her?”

Hoshi looked at him as if he grew a second head. “No? We’ve all been together for _years_. She’s basically my sister. She’d kick my ass if I even _try_ to tease her.”

Jihoon’s heart started beating. It was fast and loud. His blood pumped in his ears. He forgot how much he wanted to cross the street. “Besides,” Hoshi said with a smile, bright and proud. It was the smile Jihoon was so used to seeing whenever Hoshi-goon saw him, “I love _you_.”

It was all too fast. Jihoon’s hand pushed out, hitting Hoshi square on the gut. Hoshi grunted, holding the spot where he was hit. He felt like a robot. A malfunctioning robot. He turned sharply and crossed the street. Instinct. He was running on instinct because the light started blinking as a warning when he was a few steps away. When Hoshi recovered enough to stand straight, the light was red and Jihoon had turned another corner.

 _I love_ you. The words flashed in his mind, and the voice rang in his ears. His heart had never been so _loud_. He felt like crying again, but it was for a different reason and Jihoon honestly couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He walked faster, briskly walking until he started to full out _run_. He covered his burning face with his entire arm. It was a miracle he didn’t bump into anyone at the realization hitting him all at once. For one thing, Sofia, Hansol’s sister, wanted to date someone else. Someone who was _not_ Kwon Soonyoung.

For the _other_ thing… Jihoon was too deeply fucking in love with Hoshi-goon.

And there was _no way in hell_ Jihoon’s letting him know.


	17. jihoonie pd-nim vs the morning episode at 10:10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You planned this,” Jihoon accused. Seungcheol pretended not to hear him by “working”. He played through the same clip for the past two songs. “Did Jeonghan-hyung put you up to this?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> belated #happyvoboday! surprise! were you surprised? because i definitely was. lol this was written in under 24 hours within a span of 2 days. i got the crew to check it over and it was good to go, so i'm trusting them and releasing this without further ado!
> 
> and yes, i owe them the faq's but i think i owe this to y'all more. due to personal circumstances, the form got a little delayed. sorry 'bout that. BUT thank you to everyone who provided prompts and congratulated me!!
> 
> anyway, [here's](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwfHu9eBauwULNKZq3t93lcIiQLTCA7dpfJsvAIbETSszGOw/viewform) the voting link. please vote for your top five (5) jihoonie pd-nim prompts you'd like to see written!
> 
> other than that, i hope you enjoy and feel free to yell at me at twitter or cc!

“You’re an idiot,” Seungcheol said at the slide of the door. Jihoon doesn’t hear it often mostly because people are too scared to say it outright and to his face. It wasn’t that hard for Jeonghan or Seungcheol. Even Mingyu had a _face_ , a look that said it.

Jihoon clicked the mouse away, pressing the spacebar to replay the cut scene on the computer. It was editing day and that meant that they had watched hours of footage. Their video effects editor, Jiwoo and their video switcher, Nari, spent the past two nights. It was Jihoon’s and Seungcheol’s shift next. Jihoon was regretting it already.

Seungcheol placed two cups of coffee on the edge of the table, far from the computer and extension cords. There was a plastic bag hanging on his arm, the smell of tteokbokki and gochujang wafting inside the editing room. Jihoon’s stomach grumbled, crumpling inside from the hunger. Rolling his eyes, Seungcheol took the cup from the plastic bag and opened it gently. He took two pairs of chopsticks and they began to eat.

“See, this is why you’re an idiot.” Seungcheol said after taking a piece of ricecake. Jihoon was still gobbling down some noodles and taking a piece of kimbap. His mouth was too full to comment, but that lead to a full stomach so Jihoon didn’t rush.

“Had you _mentioned_ you were hungry two hours ago, you wouldn’t have to _starve_ yourself.” Seungcheol clicked his tongue as he ate from his own bowl of rabokki. Jihoon was too pale and too thin. “Ahjumma was worried.”

Jihoon paused. He stopped chewing for a moment before he resumed. It was a moment too obvious for Seungcheol considering they had been friends for some time now. Ever since they had that staff dinner at the restaurant, they’ve been frequent visitors. They were frequent enough that the ahjumma already knew their names, their schedule (however erratic), and sometimes even their orders.

More than once, she expressed her distress when she saw Jihoon. Then she proceeded to serve them every conceivable food like there was no tomorrow. Jihoon was touched, but it didn’t help fill his hollowness.

What hollowness, he was just an idiot.

“WHAT TIME IS IT?” Jihoon jumped at the sudden volume of noise. He choked, the spiciness of the food went down the wrong pipe. He couldn’t believe that it was time for _that_ radio show.

“10:10!” Seungcheol slurped his noodles. “This is your _wangja-nim_ ,” the music paused then a group of what Jihoon assumed were fans watching a concert, screamed, “HOSHI!!!!!”

Jihoon glared at Seungcheol though he seemed more invested in his food than actually listening to the radio station. If Seungcheol knew it was Hoshi’s radio slot, it wasn’t obvious.

A cheery and hyped song played right after the radio jingle. It might have been a love song. A cheerful tune with sad lyrics. Jihoon didn’t appreciate it. He hated Seungcheol for it too.

He gobbled the rest of his food, barely chewing what’s in his mouth before shoving more inside. He wanted to finish first so that he could wear the earphones and stop the radio. It was so that he could concentrate. That was it. There was absolutely no other reason.

Except Seungcheol finished first (the glutton), and made a grab for the head phones. He pushed Jihoon’s chair out of the way, rolling directly in front of the two computer monitors. He clicked a few things and pressed the spacebar loudly. Likely a show that _he_ was going to do the editing. Before Jihoon could open his mouth, he heard the loud voices and background music he already placed. Seungcheol watched it a few times as songs continued to play on the makeshift radio that was Seungcheol’s phone.

 _Why_ did they even have a radio playing?

“You planned this,” Jihoon accused. Seungcheol pretended not to hear him by “working”. He played through the same clip for the past two songs. “Did Jeonghan-hyung put you up to this?”

Seungcheol glanced at him without even moving his head. He turned back to the monitors and played another clip. It wasn’t even part of the clips they could use. Jihoon saw that clip already.

“Turn it off,” Jihoon demanded with an opened palm. He expected Seungcheol to give it to him without further prompt. “It’s disruptive.”

The song finished and Hoshi began his greetings. It was only his voice but it made Jihoon’s heart beat faster and butterflies fluttered in his stomach. Seungcheol got bad ramyeon on purpose, Jihoon thought darkly.

“Hyung, give me your phone.”

“We’re going to start with some messages today because you all know that I love you, my stars and I could read just this if I can. Ha ha,” Hoshi said, ending with a high pitched laughter that brought Jihoon to hide his face in his palms. He wanted to plug his ears but _fuck_ he also wanted to listen to Hoshi’s voice forever.

“Hyung, _please_ ,” Jihoon begged, voice muffled, “turn it _off_.”

“I think you need to listen to this.” Seungcheol replied. “Or Jeonghan’s gonna have my neck.”

“So Jeonghan-hyung _did_ put you up to this?”

Seungcheol shrugged, letting the headphones fall to his shoulders. “I thought you could use the shove. We’re just about done with your pining.”

“Hyung, seriously--”

“YES, I DO! Of course, I do! I’ve been saying it since I appeared on his variety show. My fans know it. Fans of the show know it. I think it would be a surprise if no one in the Republic of Korea knew it.” Hoshi blabbed. His mouth ran as energetic as he was. It was too fast and if Jihoon hadn’t met him in person before, he would have thought it was garbled and nonsensical.

“I guess I understand now since seeing that Dispatch picture, but she’s a close friend. She’s like a little sister to me. I’ve been friends with her older brother for years, and in turn, her. I hope, as my fans who love me and as fans whom I value so much, please don’t curse her. She’s a close friend. She’s a family.”

Jihoon bit his lower lip. He hadn’t spoken to Hoshi since he punched him in the gut and ran away. After that, they were busy. Granted that it had only been two weeks, Hoshi hadn’t contacted him either. Hoshi was preparing for another comeback and a solo concert. Jihoon read a few articles. Sofia visited ahjumma’s restaurant as if nothing happened. They saw each other but neither formally spoke to each other though they casually smiled in greeting.

“I love Jihoonie PD-nim,” Hoshi continued, and Jihoon realized he blanked out for a moment, “I hope you don’t hate him for that either. I’ve been telling him--and you--for years. It never even occurred to me, before that Dispatch picture with my friend, that he could be experiencing the same thing as her. Because I didn’t mind if it was just me.”

Seungcheol stopped pretending to work, Jihoon noticed. Hoshi chuckled breathlessly through the radio. “I love them both and I love my stars dearly. My company knows about this, about my close friends and about my love for PD-nim, and they understand. They support me, and I hope you can continue to support me also.”

Had this been a television show, Jihoon knew this would have been a pause. But as it was a radio, every second counted. Hoshi turned the volume up on his side, the dance music playing happily as if he didn’t beg for people to stop the malicious comments.

“I don’t know what’s stopping you,” Seungcheol said as Hoshi introduced the next song. He lowered the volume, letting the music be their background. “But I think you should tell him.”

“I just--” Jihoon paused, his voice cracking unexpectedly. He cleared his throat, “he’s an _idol_. You _know_ what happens to idols who… who get into relationships. I can’t do that to him.”

“You know that he’d turn the world the other way around for you if he could, don’t you?” Seungcheol said, turning around back to the monitors. He turned the radio off.

“I know,” Jihoon replied, resigned, “and I can’t let him. Hyung, it took me a while but I… I love him too much to tell him.”

Jihoon knew perfectly well what would happen if he told Hoshi. If he told Kwon Soonyoung. It sounded fake. It _felt_ fake. Weeks have past and even he couldn’t believe it himself. He couldn’t believe that it took him months-- _years_ \--to realize that he was already in love with Hoshi, with Kwon Soonyoung. It didn’t feel right to tell him.

“Jeonghan’s going to kill me,” Seungcheol said, the corner of his lips quirked up. Jihoon chuckled. Jeonghan was definitely going to castrate Seungcheol. He wanted Jihoon to admit it. They were getting tired of watching the unrequited chick flick. “You’re still an idiot.”

Jihoon nodded, shrugged, and smiled weakly. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“He loves you so much that he doesn’t even mind if you don’t love him back.” Jihoon’s face crumpled. His heart was beating so loud, he was sure that Seungcheol heard it. “Soonyoung would do _everything_ for you. That, at least, I hope you already knew.”


	18. jihoonie pd-nim vs the kabedon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We’re going to do something a bit more manhwa,” Jeonghan began, beckoning them to come closer, “since we’ve seen how most of you do with aegyo, I think something like this would get your fans going. It’s a little cliche, but hey, that’s the fun of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i finished this pretty quickly considering the gap between ch16 and 17 but hey, who am i to look a gift horse in the mouth?
> 
> a few announcements before you read (this is pretty important?)  
> 1\. hoshi-goon was doing [this particular aegyo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llCgbs67QvI). the translation came from the video itself so credits! (and my bias is showing)  
> (ps. if you hover your mouse over "Cutie~!" you can read the word in hangul and imagine hoshi-goon saying that exact word instead)  
> 2\. you can still vote for your top 5 prompts for the 500 kudos celebration [over here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwfHu9eBauwULNKZq3t93lcIiQLTCA7dpfJsvAIbETSszGOw/viewform)!  
> 3\. because the chapter took a life of its own, i've moved some chapters around and instead y'all have 1 angst chapter, a performance chapter, and an onslaught of angst until the final chapter. you can follow me on twitter if you want to stay updated or randomly pop up in my dms/cc if you don't wanna follow since i'm a multifandom account lol  
> 4\. I DO SO ENJOY READING YOUR REACTIONS and it means so fucking much to me when you tell me how it is 8U8 but only if you want to!!!
> 
> this chapter wouldn't exist without the help of the crew and the snhn cult. 8u8
> 
> enjoy! lol

He was in love with a fucking idiot.

Jihoon knew what he was getting into. He had an idea what it meant falling in love with him. It wasn’t a complaint per se, but _why_. Why was he in love with a complete idiot?

His friends were also very evil.

He knew of, witnessed, and even experienced first hand, Yoon Jeonghan’s evilness. It was mischievous and cunning. He made it seem like it was normal. Except it was anything but. The plan was always meticulous. It was well thought out and spread. The situations where things didn’t go well had backups and Jeonghan still got the reactions he wanted.

“ _Can I call you hey?_ ” Hoshi began, standing in the center of everyone. The rest of the guests gathered around him in interest. Some of them watched with genuine curiosity while the rest cringed. All of them, except one, watched with a smile.

“ _Can I call you mine?_ ” He continued, coming up with cute hand movements and this was not good for Jihoon’s heart. His voice was high pitched and he squished his cheeks because of _course_ the fucker knew about the power of his cheeks.

“ _We need to come up with our pet names_.” They really did not, Jihoon thought. Jeonghan was curling into himself, hiding his face. His shoulders were shaking in an attempt to keep his laughter in as to not ruin the take.

The guests and hosts screamed as Hoshi finished his hand movements. Jihoon didn’t even know what he was doing here. This wasn’t even _his show_. He received a message early in the morning, asking him to come to the studio. A writer for a different variety show called in sick and they needed another writer last minute. Jihoon must have been too sleepy to realize he called Jeonghan first.

They already had the script, but there were empty spots as the show took more inspiration on adlibs. Jeonghan was too good at coming up with punishments.

The day started out so _well_ , too.

Jihoon wasn’t stressed as soon as he woke up for once. Everything went well for their next production shoot. Nothing was missing from the production props and everyone was chugging vitamin C like it was candy. All the guests confirmed that there were no unforeseeable sudden cancellations and they would appear as scheduled. The hosts were healthy and any healthier, they might have to do some outdoor stuff to burn the energy.

“PD-ni~m!” The female guests and crew squealed loudly. It felt like an earthquake. Jeonghan was laughing outright. His hand on his stomach and his torso leaned far back. He looked like he was about to fall unto the tripods and Jihoon hoped he’d hit his head.

“Cutie~!” Hoshi continued. His sing-song voice resonated inside the studio. Jihoon fought down a blush as much as he could. It didn’t matter that his cheeks were already pink and his face already felt hot. Jeonghan’s silent laughter was pretty loud in Jihoon’s burning ears.

“ _From today_ ,” Hoshi said, looking directly at the camera with a face as red as a tomato from the tips of his ears to his chest. He probably didn’t even know that Jihoon was watching him from the big screen. “ _I’ll call_ _you mine_!”

The instrumental music stopped and everyone clapped. Hoshi hid his face in his hands and he walked to a corner to curl up. The hosts laughed, amused, and they started their commentary about what happened. Hoshi was still curled in a corner when the hosts asked for a challenger.

The main producer of the show called for a cut. Someone clapped for all the cameras before running off. The crew fixed their cameras and the stylists and makeup artists made their way to their celebrities. A few walked near the cameras while the rest simply stepped off. The production crew fixed the studio. They added chairs and some signs. Jeonghan talked to the main producer before he walked to the hosts and celebrities.

Whatever Jeonghan told them, Jihoon knew it was bad. Horrible. Terribly mean. It was revenge for the years of frustration about his feelings for Hoshi-goon. And even more since Jihoon admitted it aloud to Jeonghan. After an exclamation of “FINALLY!”, Jihoon didn’t think it through when he answered that he had no plans of telling him.

The room went silent, then. Jihoon had a gut feeling that time that something ominous was going to happen. Jeonghan concocted it slowly and painfully, waiting for the right time. Jihoon couldn’t believe that it was this.

“Okay, we’ll fast forward a little bit and take it from fan calls. Ready?” The main producer called, as the rest of his own crew finished setting up. Jeonghan stepped forward with a script and a pen. He scribbled and turned a few pages, then he turned to the celebrities.

“We’re going to do something a bit more manhwa,” Jeonghan began, beckoning them to come closer, “since we’ve seen how most of you do with aegyo, I think something like this would get your fans going. It’s a little cliche, but hey, that’s the fun of it.”

Jihoon wanted to argue otherwise. In fact, he could have, and then left. He wasn’t needed. Jeonghan knew how to write for variety shows. There was no need for a chaperone. And yet, his feet was stuck to the ground and there was a sinking feeling in his stomach that the next things Jeonghan was going to say would not be good for his heart.

“Hoshi-goon,” Jeonghan said. Jihoon knew there was a smirk hidden somewhere. “You’re up first.”

Jihoon should have left. Jeonghan announcing Hoshi as the first to try whatever manhwa thing he made them do should have been his bright red warning signal. Hoshi didn’t know he was there. The filming already began when Jihoon arrived, and there was no time for greetings. Even during breaks, Jihoon stayed at his spot, and for some miraculous reason, no one else but the main producer and Jeonghan knew he was there. Watching behind a big screen that covered and blocked everything, but showed everyone through the screen.

“You know how this goes,” Jeonghan continued as Hoshi stepped up right in the middle of the studio and Jeonghan stepped away, “imagine that you’re slamming your hand on a wall and your fan or whoever it is you’d like to think of would be between you and that wall. Don’t lose your cool and just go with your gut.”

Fuck, Jihoon thought. At least three cameras were pointed only at Hoshi. The rest were the solo cameras of the hosts and other celebrities, but at least three. _Three_ were focused solely on Hoshi. Jihoon was right; this was bad for his heart.

Hoshi raised his arm and slammed. There was no sound, but Jihoon flinched anyway. Rationally, Jihoon knew he wasn’t there and that there was no way Hoshi knew Jihoon was there, but there was something about the way Hoshi looked. How carnal it all seemed, how primitive. As if he was run by instinct. The lights shined on him brightly and there was a thin sheen of sweat adding some shine on his face. His fringe stuck to his forehead and it made him look more like an animal. A tiger on a hunt.

And Jihoon felt like his prey.

“Nope,” Jeonghan called out and Jihoon, for once today, was thankful for it, “it needs to be believable. And you shouldn’t forget your balance. Nearly fell flat on your face there, Hoshi-goon.”

There was laughter. The crew and the celebrities giggled and screamed and squealed. At Jeonghan’s comment, the studio released their reactions. A few crew members fanned each other. A female celebrity or two held each other tightly for comfort. Jihoon understood how they all felt.

“Jihoonie PD-nim!” Jeonghan called, and Jihoon’s blood froze. All of the heads turned to him. If Jihoon didn’t feel like a prey when Hoshi did _that_ , he sure did now, with all eyes on him. “Come over here!”

One of the runners came up to him with a pleading look on her face. He wanted to bark at her. To yell at her, to _demand_ that she pretend he wasn’t there because of all the eyes on him, he could _feel_ Hoshi-goon’s the most. A small hand encircled his wrist and his arm was pulled. He tried to dig his heels onto the ground. He was a _man_.

A girl determined was a girl undeterred, as Jihoon learned because his shoes skidded and screeched against the floor. He quickly realized that he needed to lift his own feet and move if he didn’t want to fall on the floor. His feet nearly got tangled around the wires.

“Jihoonie PD-nim?” Hoshi said, half hopeful and half horrified. Jihoon didn’t know which one he preferred.

Jeonghan pulled him closer. He stumbled, but quickly caught his balance before he dived in head first into open arms. “Now Jihoonie PD-nim here has nothing else better to do so feel free to try it with him against the wall.”

“Why,” Jihoon hissed.

“ _Because_ ,” Jeonghan said aloud and with emphasis, “our _female_ guests are _idols_. If he tries it on them, how _disasterous_ do you think that would be.”

It wasn’t much of a question than an underlying threat. Jihoon knew the misunderstanding it caused. Biting his lower lip, he resigned. The grip on his wrist changed from small and tugging to a firm grip until it became soft and tentative. It was a little unsure. It felt so _ridiculous_ that Hoshi was careful about skinship _now_.

(In hindsight, Jihoon figured, it might have had something to do with the article. Hoshi walked on eggshells because of that. Jihoon felt anger bubbling in his chest.)

“Here should be good,” Jeonghan said, tapping a wall beside him. It sounded sturdy albeit hollow. “Now, this is a test run. Just so we can see how it would look on camera. Can’t really decide if we should do it with you pretending that the camera is your ‘someone’ or if you should just go ahead and try it with a proxy.”

“Can we have someone clap the slate please?” The main producer asked and the youngest celebrity stepped forward. She checked all the cameras and made sure that she was in them. The cameras pointing at Hoshi and Jihoon still directed at her somehow. She clapped the slate after a quick count of one, two, three.

_Slam_!

Jihoon felt the wall, hard and wooden on his back. He bounced, hitting the back of his head, making it a little sore. The backdrop was poking all over his body. As if there were tiny splinters poking out. He gluped, opening one eye he didn’t notice closed on its own. There was an arm caging one side of his head. Another was near his waist. He felt a warm breath against his own fringe and it stopped his heart. He didn’t dare look up because he could imagine

“Sorry,” Hoshi whispered, surprising Jihoon and surely, Jeonghan. The entire studio was quiet. Everyone stared at them. The cameramen, too, even when their cameras were pointed at the other celebrities and the hosts. Jihoon tensed.

“It’s good to see you again,” Hoshi said with a low voice. Jihoon’s heart began beating again but this time, it was too fast. The blood rushed up Jihoon’s head and he felt dizzy. _Why_ did Hoshi think that this was a good time?

“I didn’t think I’d see you after they say cut,” Hoshi answered without Jihoon even opening his mouth. It reminded Jihoon how much Hoshi knew of him. How much Hoshi _knew him_. How much Hoshi _loved_ him. Because he was right. Jihoon would flee. He would run again because he was so _goddamn good_ at that.

“Whew,” Jeonghan said. Jihoon didn’t realize that someone already called cut. Jihoon dared a small glance. His heart was torn between beating too fast or not beating at all. Hoshi was staring at him. His eyes soft, but protected. It was sad and Jihoon wanted to fight it away. “That was one hell of a wall slam.”

The main producer came up to them, talking to Jeonghan and asking if it was a little too intense. Jihoon was frozen, locked with Hoshi’s eyes on him. He couldn’t move. His limbs felt like it wasn’t his. It was longer than it should have been because the main producer clamped Hoshi’s shoulder but neither of them moved.

“Know what,” Jeonghan said, looking apologetic at Jihoon and Hoshi, “we can stick to the aegyo. I want to see Eunhee-ssi try it.”

The main producer nodded and went to the celebrities and hosts who gathered around. Jeonghan turned to them, tapping Hoshi’s shoulder and kept it there. “You have three minutes. That’s all I can give.”

Hoshi smiled, strained and solemn, his eyes never left Jihoon’s. Jeonghan returned the smile. It was comforting. Except he turned around and left.

Jihoon kept his mouth shut. His throat was dry and his tongue felt like ash. Hoshi looked like he wanted to say something. This time, Jihoon had nowhere to run.

Hoshi leaned in. Jihoon tensed tighter. The warm breath tickled against his ear. He flinched, turning his head away.

“Sorry, Jihoonie PD-nim,” Hoshi began, his voice was low and quiet, “for everything. If I bothered you. If I made you uncomfortable. If you got... _attacked_ somehow,” and there was tension in his voice.

“That wasn’t my intention. I’d do anything to protect you and shield you from that. You don’t deserve any of those.” Hoshi pulled back and Jihoon’s heart squeezed at the look on his face. It was sad and broken. “I really do love you, PD-nim.”

Jihoon wanted to say something. Jihoon _should have_ said something. Anything, because Hoshi-- _Soonyoung_ \--was sad and it was breaking Jihoon’s heart. But his stupid throat was stuck. A great lump lodged inside. Jihoon swallowed, trying to force it down but to no avail.

With a step back, Hoshi smiled again. It was forced, but it was as bright as it always was to Jihoon. Nothing looked different. There were no tears, though Jihoon felt them prick his eyes.

The producer called Hoshi and he turned around. His back broader than Jihoon remembered. It was strong and almost _too much_. He was in love with a fucking idiot.

And _the fucking_ _idiot_ was in love with _him_.

**Author's Note:**

> I only actually planned for 26 but if you have any situations you want to see Jihoonie PD-nim be in (in relation to Hoshi or maybe the rest as they appear), feel free to send them in through one of the links down below.
> 
> If you didn't notice, I'm claiming artistic license for this entire AU... otherwise I might not be able to finish this. hahahaha
> 
> I barely read through this. Any mistakes are solely my own, and if you see any feel free to comment!
> 
> i also SO VERY MUCH enjoy commentary! i'd love to see your reactions whenever you read a chapter so please feel free to mention, flood my dms, go anon on my cc, anything! it gives me the energy to continue hahaha.
> 
> TALK TO ME: [personal twt](http://twitter.com/shinybicho) | [fanfiction twt](https://twitter.com/haengbokhaeya) | [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/shinybicho)


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